Flourishing Devotion
by Calebski
Summary: Neville is finally off to Hogwarts, escaping his overbearing Grandmother, eccentric relatives, and life in the constant shadow of his brave Father. He is clumsy, shy and completely unsure of himself until he makes a friend looking for his toad. A friend that will go on to become the most important person in his life.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N after writing a tiny hint of Hermione x Neville in my current WIP I wanted to explore them properly in their own story. I've always liked the pairing and there aren't a great deal of stories out there._

 _This fic will start right at the beginning Hogwarts first year and will be from Neville's POV. The chapters will be in time order but they will mainly focus on events that occur that are significant to Neville and as such there maybe time jumps and will not run with each chapter beginning where the last left off. As such the chapter lengths will vary a little but typically will be around 1-2k._

 _This story will largely follow canon events and its slightly based on a what if principal, what it Hermione and Neville's friendship continued to develop after meeting on The Hogwarts Express._

 _ **EDIT:** This fanfic is currently being redrafted, please excuse mistakes, grammar and spelling issues the new version should be up soon._

* * *

 **Year One Chapter One**

* * *

Neville Longbottom stood quietly on the edge of Platform 9 ¾ and stared at the gleaming red steam train, The Hogwarts Express, his squirming insides an equal mix of barely restrained excitement and unparalleled fear.

He turned to say goodbye to his Grandmother, it was unlikely to be an emotional farewell. Augusta Longbottom had been born a stern woman and life had hardened her further. Neville's parents had been tortured to complete insanity when he was sixteen months old. They had been repeatedly placed under the Cruciatus Curse by Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband Rodolphus, his brother Rabastan and a younger Death Eater, Barty Crouch Jr. Singled out because of a crazy woman's mistaken belief that his parents knew anything about their missing Lord, Voldemort.

Over the years family members had filled in some of the blanks that Neville had about his Mum and Dad, his Gran had always been reluctant to talk about her son other than to repeatedly assert how superior he was on any given subject to Neville. His parents had been childhood sweethearts, having fallen in love at school, his Dad proposed after Graduation. They had then married and entered the Auror training programme together, Alice becoming pregnant soon after.

Augusta had doted on her Son, Frank, and had come to care deeply for his chosen wife. She had to deal with a Mother's heartbreak over the attack and had then been given an infant to care for in the twilight years of her life. While she should have been enjoying the relative ease of a fun role as an affectionate Grandparent she had instead become a primary care giver.

Neville had been to see his parents the day before. They lived in the same place they had been since they were discovered following the attack, The Janus Thickey Ward at St. Mungo's. The ward housed residents whose minds had been permanently affected by spell damage and were no longer able to function in the wizarding world.

They couldn't speak, at least not in complete sentences and their comprehension of the world around them was often limited. But Neville knew they recognised him when he visited. His Mum's eyes would flash and she would spend the entire time unwrapping the sweets he would bring her and passing him the papers.

Most people said he looked like his Mum, he thought they were being kind. His Mum was beautiful, even after all that time lost to herself Neville still thought so. He was not blind to his appearance, he was slightly chubby, most notably in his cheeks and his teeth seemed a little large for his head. He was often reassured by his Uncle Algie that the men in their family were often a little heavy when younger and when Neville had a couple of growth spurts it would all even out. Neville would take one look at his Uncle's rather pronounced belly and nod along convincing despite not believing a word.

He shared the envisioned terse hug with his Gran and moved to get onto the train, _this was it!_ The first time where he could be himself, not Frank's Son that never quite measured up, not the kid with the tortured parents just him, simply Neville.

Almost as soon as he had boarded the train all of his optimism from literally seconds ago fell away as he realised with complete horror that he had lost his toad, Trevor. He walked into the nearest available compartment and hoisted his trunk up already looking forward to being able to complete such tasks with magic.

It was only when he turned around that he noticed there was a girl sitting on the opposite bench. It was no wonder he hadn't seen her before she was so small, she had to be a first year like him. She had a copy of Hogwarts a History perched on her lap that dwarfed her further. Her hair was _insane_ , he'd never seen anything quite like it. It seemed to move independently around her head reacting to the subtle movements of the train. He wondered briefly it were a living organism that he hadn't heard about yet. She made no response to him entering the compartment and did not acknowledge him now despite him staring at her. He summed up all of his courage and broke the silence;

"Um... excuse me...you... you haven't seen a toad have you?"

The tiny girl raised her head and Neville's gaze was met by caramel brown eyes assessing him "No, I'm sorry I haven't, _and you are?_ " Neville was instantly taken back by her crisp, direct tone, it seemed so at odds with her appearance.

"I'm Neville, Neville Longbottom"

"Pleasure to meet you Neville, I'm Hermione Granger, would you like some help looking for him?"

"Erm yes please"

He followed her out into the corridor where he noticed that she, much like himself, had more than a little difficulty walking straight during the rough movements of the train. Hermione proceeded to knock on every single compartment and enquire about Trevor. By the time they approached the last carriage he was starting to feel a bit tearful and was very grateful that she had taken charge.

When the last carriage door opened there were only two occupants, both boys in their first year, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. He had heard from his Gran that Harry Potter would be attending Hogwarts that year, it was clear by the boy's facial expression, _he had worn it enough himself_ , that he wanted to keep a low profile. He had heard of the Weasley's of course, being a pureblood part of his education as a child had been about the existing pureblood families followed by harsh directives from his Gran on which ones he was allowed to associate with. To some in pureblood circles the Weasley's would be seen as blood traitors, the Longbottom's too for that matter, but his Gran had referred to them as a respectable family, though she had made a few comments about the number of children they had being slightly unseemly... _whatever that meant_.

With nowhere else to search Neville and Hermione headed back to their own compartment, he was dejected.

"I'm sure he will turn up Neville" Hermione said reassuringly, her tone was much less brittle now. He slumped on the bench seat opposite her.

"So.." Hermione began "what house do you think you will be in?"

"Both of my parents were in Gryffindor, but I think there's a good chance I won't be. Not sure where I will end up. I'm not brave like you need for Gryffindor and not smart like the Ravenclaws… maybe Hufflepuff?"

"Ok, I'm not sure where I would be, my parents are muggles so no indication there, I don't know how smart I could be perceived as being as I've only known about magic for a few months. Everyone from the wizarding world must be so much further along than me" her modest smile waned a touch and he suddenly comprehend how scared she must be. He felt the need to reassure her like she had tried to do about Trevor.

"My family thought I was going to be a squib for a while as I did not show any signs of magic"

"What's a squib?"

"Non magical person born to magical parents. It all got cleared up when my Uncle Algie chucked me out of a window"

"He dropped you out of a window?!" Hermione's voice had become impossibly shrill, her eyes wide like saucers and despite his nerves and worrying about Trevor Neville found he was laughing.

"It was an accident, he was reaching for a meringue, I was sat on the window ledge and I got pushed out. Before I hit the ground I stopped and hovered for a second before landing gently"

Hermione was overcome by a fit of giggles and he couldn't help joining her. After a few moments she straightened out wiping her eyes.

"Oh thats terrible, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't laugh, _you could have died_ "

"It all worked out in the end, Uncle Algie brought me Trevor when I got my Hogwarts letter, I can't believe I've lost him already"

"It will be alright Neville he will turn up"

* * *

Hermione was proved right, after arriving at Hogsmeade Station a giant man, who Harry whispered was called Rubeus Hagrid, was clutching a toad and shouting for whoever had lost it to come forward.

"TREVOR!" Neville jumped forward thanked Hagrid profusely and then secured Trevor inside his robes, hoping that he would at least managed to make it to the end of the day before losing him again.

The first years were directed to the shore of the Black Lake to cross over to Hogwarts Castle, this journey was made by boat and only the first years travelled this way. Hagrid instructed that they should be four to a boat and himself and Hermione climbed in behind Harry and Ron. Hermione had gone completely silent, considering she had barely stopped talking to breath on the train ride to Scotland the sudden stillness was jarring. The boat rocked in the water _very slightly_ and her hand instantly jerked from under her robes to grip the side, her knuckles turning white with the force of her hold. Her eyes were firmly closed and her teeth were embedded in her bottom lip.

As the first part of the castle came into view Ron leant forward disturbing the boat again, this time Hermione's other had shot from under her robes to grab Neville's hand. He was momentarily stunned. He had only ever held hands with two people, it had been a long time since his Gran had held his hand but his Mum occasionally still reached for it on their visits.

The boat turned and they got their first glimpse of the whole castle, it looked beautiful in the setting sun. He knew Hermione would appreciate the view, from the amount she had quoted from Hogwarts a History on the way down she must have read the book more than once.

As gently as he could he squeezed her hand, not taking his eyes of the castle. "Hermione, open your eyes, you need to see this"

A moment later he noticed a minute movement as Hermione opened one eye just a fraction then gasped loudly and her eyes opened and went almost as wide as when he had told her about the window incident.

When they pulled into the shore he kept hold of her hand to help her out of the boat, another residue from his pureblood training, when she let go he had to stretch his fingers several times to get the blood to flow back to the tips, she had been clutching him that hard. He found he didn't really mind though.

* * *

Lining up for the sorting ceremony Neville lost sight of any excitement he might have felt that day. He had long been intimidated by Gryffindor's reputation for bravery and his biggest fear was for the sorting hat to be placed on his head and for it to declare there was nowhere for him to go, that there had been a mistake and he needed to go home immediately.

Quicker than he would have liked the students in front of him diminished until his name was called. He tentatively moved towards the stool and Professor McGonagall placed the aged hat on his head. His eyes fell on Hermione, already at her seat on the Gryffindor table, she was watching with rapt attention, he had previously thought he would argue for Hufflepuff, there would be no false expectations there, but when he saw her move to the edge of her seat he made no protest and the hat shouted

"GRYFFINDOR"

He was so surprised by the volume of the hats voice and its judgement that he got half way across the hall before he realised that hat was still on his head. He blushed fiercely and raced back to put it on the stool for the next student.

As he moved back to the table he smiled at the pats on the back, handshakes and residual cheering, Hermione made to shuffle over and he nudged in next to her.

"We did it Neville, they have a place for us and it's Gryffindor, home of the brave"

"Home of the brave" he repeated and for the first time the words didn't fill him with dread.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N Thank you to everyone who had already read, reviewed, followed and favourited this story._

 _The update schedule going forward will be roughly posting once or twice a week._

* * *

 **Year One Chapter Two**

* * *

Neville reflected that his first year had not got off to the best start. Against all odds in the beginning it had seemed like it was going to be fine, temporarily lost toad notwithstanding. He had been sorted into Gryffindor he had made friends and he was happy with his roommates. The highlight of those first few days had been his first Herbology class, it had been fantastic, all those hours with Uncle Algie in the greenhouses of Longbottom House must have paid off as Professor Sprout had claimed he had a natural talent in front of the whole class. Neville wasn't sure he had ever been labelled as having a talent before let alone a natural one.

Then he had his first Potions class and everything derailed, the experience was sure to give him nightmares for weeks to come. It was his first time in the dungeons of the castle, it didn't even feel like the same building down there. It was as if all the warmth had been removed from the air, the cheer right along with it, just by moving down a couple of flights of stairs.

They had all moved into the room and sat down on the benches when the classroom door was swung open with a large slam and Professor Snape had moved into view. He had seen him before of course, at mealtimes and such, he had certainly heard enough about him, how intimidating the other Gryffindors had found him. None of that prepared Snape for how scared he would be with Snape up close.

Neville catalogued Snape's features like a child listing the characteristics of their most feared monster. When Snape moved his black robes billowed, flaring around him like a dark magical aura. His dark almost black greasy hair fell lankly to his shoulders, he had a large hook nose and his face seemed permanently set in a sneer, though slim he was tall and his very presence was intimidating. Most frightening to Neville was his disposition, Snape seemed to exist in a permanent state of barely holding on to the last fragment of his temper, an eruption into rage likely at the smallest provocation.

When they had been assigned their task and the students got to work he could tell how daunting the other students found Snape by how quiet the room had gone, but no one seemed to find the sour Potions Master as totally incapacitating as he did.

Neville was working with Seamus Finnigan which he considered was probably not the best combination. Where Neville was supposedly a natural with plants Seamus had the same innate gift for pyrotechnics. That said it was still Neville that made the first mistake. He couldn't help it, he was unnerved by the way the Professor stalked around during the lesson like a caged tiger, waiting for one of them to make a mistake. Despite how many times he attempted to calm himself he could not concentrate and that resulted in fumbling with ingredients, melting Seamus's cauldron, the resulting explosion drenching him the boil-curing potion they had been brewing.

After being screamed at for being incompetent he made his way to The Hospital Wing, for what would turn out to be the first of many many trips, he hoped that Madam Pomfrey would have something for the burns.

* * *

Then came their first flying lesson, he had sat next to Hermione at breakfast who had been aggressively flipping through Quidditch Through The Ages. He was pretty sure that it would be of next to no help but one look at her mental hair, by now a clear sign that she was emotional, he shut up. Ron was quietly, for Ron at least, scoffing at her from the other side of the table. Neville didn't want her to feel bad, though he was relieved that someone was as nervous as he was. Even so, she had an excuse, even if she was completely terrible, she was muggleborn. He on the other hand should have been better prepared for this but his Gran had never let him have a broom. She had said that anyone as clumsy as he was with both feet on the ground would be a menace airborne and he had defeatedly walked away from the potential argument.

Breakfast over they walked onto the Quidditch pitch to meet Madam Hooch who had them line up in two rows facing each other, each student next to a school broom that had been laid out on the ground. This lesson was with the Slytherins, _of course_. Draco Malfoy had seemingly made it his personal mission to make Neville's life difficult and they had only been there a few days. Draco was at the top of a list of children his Gran wanted him to have nothing to do with, this was probably one of the only things that he had ever totally agreed with her on. Malfoy was the epitome of everything that was wrong with the old fashioned pureblood circles. He was loud, rude, cruel and a snob. Worse he was a coward, he revelled in throwing out his hateful comments but he didn't go anywhere without at least two of his little followers with him.

A few years ago he had gone to The Ministry with his Gran and they had bumped into Lucius Malfoy, Draco's Father, Neville had disliked him instantly and from the expression on his face when he saw Neville the feeling was mutual. Draco was well on his way to being a complete carbon copy of his father.

As soon as the lesson began he lost control of the broom, he had been so afraid of being the only one not to get the thing airborne he pushed off too early and ended up going much higher than he bargained for. When he was several feet higher than Madam Hooch's head he panicked and with the resulting lapse in concentration the broom fell out of the air and he plummeted to the ground, _hard_.

Madam Hooch rushed over, after she helped him off the ground he noticed the weird angle his wrist was sitting at and she insisted on escorting him to The Hospital Wing.

Madam Pomfrey got up from behind her desk when the heavy doors were swung open;

"Good Afternoon Mr Longbottom we meet again"

He gave her a watery smile and sat onto the bed the nurse directed him to. After running a series of diagnostic spells over him Madam Pomfrey informed him he had a broken wrist. He sighed, he had only just got rid of the rash that remained after the potions accident. _How could he have injured himself again?_

Before he could continue to mentally berate himself the Hospital Wing doors swung open and from the unmistakable hair that appeared Hermione had come to see him. With some difficulty, that he stifled a laugh at, she hoisted herself up and perched on the end of his bed

"What did Madam Pomfrey say?"

"She's getting me a potion then I should be ok to go. Did...Did everyone laugh at me when I was gone?" Neville hated that he could feel his cheeks flush as he asked the question, he hated to be embarrassed and had already spent too much time feeling like the butt of the jokes since he came to Hogwarts.

Hermione smiled softly at him "No, everyone was distracted. Malfoy took your remberall and flew off daring Harry to give chase. Which he obviously did and then was spotted by Professor McGonagall through her office window, she came running down on to the pitch afterwards, it looked like she had steam coming out of her ears she was so mad"

"Wow, wouldn't like to be in his shoes...how did the rest of it go for you?"

"Same as before you left really, I kept saying 'up' but the broom would not 'up'. Never left the ground the whole lesson" Hermione said indignantly, eyes alive with frustration.

"You don't think...Never mind" her eyes fell to the floor, her hair falling forward almost totally obscuring her face. He was getting used to her mannerisms, she always hid when she was really worried about something.

"I don't think what?" He probed gently

"Well...Malfoy...and some of the other Slytherins..."

"You don't want to go listening to them"

She lifted her head ever so slightly and he could see that the corners of her mouth had twinged "no...I know...but well... they've said a few things about being muggleborn and I wanted to be able to fly _so badly_ because I didn't want them to know I couldn't do something. It would feel like I had proved them right, but… but I'm just so scared of it. I don't like heights _at all_ and this one time I went skiing with my parents and there was this huge lift and I…"

Sensing that she was about to spiral and completely unravel he cut her off "Hermione it's just flying a broom, it's not the end of the world"

"Really?"

"Really"

"So remedial flying lessons it is then" she sighed

"Yeah I guess so, there should be a few less people in that class and we only have to know the basics and then we don't have to do it anymore" Neville tried to reassure her, he felt silly given he had exactly the same fears, although when she started to look relieved it made him feel better.

"I suppose you're right, as you're not going to be in here much longer do you want to come to the library with me? Was going to head there to start on my Potions homework"

"So you can help me you mean?" He didn't intend for his words to come out as harsh as they had, however, on his second visit to the Hospital Wing in a week he didn't want to be reminded of Potions at all, homework or not.

"No _I'm_ going to work on it, if you want to be there reading the same books, quietly discussing the topic, that's up to you" she smiled brightly at him and he felt his prickly attitude fade.

"Also I wouldn't mind a bit of help on the Herbology Devil's Snare assignment, I'm mislabelling something on my diagram and its throwing everything off"

Neville beamed at her, maybe it hadn't such a bad start after all.

* * *

He could see Ron was unhappy from the back of his head, it didn't take a great deal to read Ron. He was given to large displays of emotion, quick to anger, especially if he was being kept from his food for any period of time.

Neville was in a cluster of Gryffindor boys leaving their second charms class of the term and Ron was on a tear about Hermione. She had embarrassed him in class when she had corrected him on his spell pronunciation and his attempt at turning the humiliation on her by asking her to 'prove it' had failed when her levitated feather made its way higher and higher eventually settling on one of the rafters, Professor Flitwick had all but fallen off his book pile in delight.

"Did you hear her?… _it's leviosa not leviosar_ " Ron mimicked her voice unflatteringly, Harry and Dean made some noises of assent. He could see where Ron was coming from, Hermione's manner was stand offish at times and it alienated her from a lot of people. He didn't think she did it intentionally and she wasn't like that around him, not really, with others she seemed to struggle to express herself.

Ron continued "I mean it's no wonder why she hasn't got any friends" Neville thought that was a bit strong, he was willing himself to say something in her defense but before he could articulate anything he was knocked off balance by Hermione herself pushing past them all, for a girl that looked as fragile as she did she could be incredibly strong at times. He called after her but she didn't turn around. Her shoulders were slumped and he could see her drag the body of her bag around her front and clutch it to her chest like a shield.

"Did you have to?" He asked still watching Hermione disappear from view

"What? She should hear it, she's insufferable"

"She's actually… she's actually really nice" the boys all stopped and turned to look at him, he wasn't made for standing up to people but Hermione _had_ been nice to him, helping him look for his toad, visiting him in The Hospital Wing "She can come off a bit cold" Ron snorted "But she's not just in a new school she's in a whole new world so… so cut her some slack... _please_ "

Harry appeared slightly abashed and even Ron looked vaguely thoughtful. Neville nodded awkwardly at the boys and went off in the direction that Hermione had marched in _would probably find her in the library._ He hoped things would start to get easier for her, for both of them.


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N Thank you everyone who has read, reviewed, favourited and followed._

* * *

 **Year One Chapter Three**

* * *

Neville was lying in The Hospital Wing, not a strange place for him to be found, this was after all the third time he had been sent here this term, in fact "sent" wasn't correct as this time he had to be carried, he mused that at least he wasn't there as a result of an accident he had caused this time. Harry had half carried half dragged him from the Quidditch pitch and he had been directed to deposit Neville in what Madam Pomfrey had referred to as the ' _Longbottom Suite_ ' which was actually the bed in the far right corner of the the course of his previous visits the nurse had told him that when his Dad was at Hogwarts he'd been very accident prone and had visited The Hospital Wing more times than even Neville in his first term. Neville had been delighted to hear that. It was nice to think he might be more like his Dad than people thought, even if the shared trait was a potentially negative one, but more so because it was the first time anyone had ever given him any indication that either of his parents were anything less than perfect. It wasn't like he wanted to hear they were horrible, far from it, he had been brought up with this image of them, his Dad in particular, as the brightest, the kindest and the greatest, hearing that Frank tripped up the stairs knocking down two portraits in his second week of term, breaking a couple of fingers made his Dad, or the Frank Longbottom that had been, seem more like a real person, not an unattainable fantasy had blacked out earlier so things were still a little fuzzy. Madam Pomfrey had been over to do her initial assessments and had tutted continually at the litany of bruises covering his face and upper body. He ached and was sure he had broken a couple of ribs but nothing could displace the grin that was currently stretched from one ear to the other.

He had finally stood up for himself, in front of almost the whole school and to Malfoy of all people! All year he'd found himself on the wrong side of Draco Malfoy's sharp tongue and hexes. He had no idea why the blond had it in for him so much but he never missed an opportunity to ridicule him. Neville wasn't the only one, Harry and Ron seemed to be on his list as well but as far as he could recall he had never even started a dialogue with him or treated the Slytherin with open hostility like the other boys had but he was still a target.

 _It was just after the Christmas holidays and Neville was happy to be back at the castle following a very quiet Yule at home. He had visited his parents on Boxing Day as usual, although he wouldn't miss it for the world the call made him maudlin._ _At every other time of year he pushed his feelings about his parents hospitalisation down inside of him, Christmas however was such a family orientated holiday, after weeks of listening to his housemates discuss their plans excitedly exchanging details of long standing traditions in their homes he could not shake the longing for something similar for himself. Even though acknowledging that desire came with an incredible amount of guilt._ _After dropping off his trunk to his dorm Neville was heading to the Great Hall hoping to grab a quick something to eat before they stopped serving dinner. Walking into what had appeared to be an empty corridor he was set upon by Malfoy and a gang of his Slytherin mates. After a few new variations on the standard set downs, most were directed at his general lack of intelligence Malfoy fired a Leg-Locker Curse at him._ _Neville believed he was okay at defensive magic, DADA wasn't one of his stronger classes but at least it was better than Potions, however, his clumsiness slowed him down and his reaction times weren't quick enough._ _After Malfoy has finally walked away not before nearly laughing himself sick Neville had to bunny-hop all the way back to Gryffindor Tower, he couldn't for the life of him remember the counter curse and he didn't want to humiliate himself further by going into the Great Hall in that state. Following coming dangerously close to losing his temper with the Fat Lady that had seen fit to laugh at his efforts to get through the portrait hole he stumbled into the common room, swallowed his shame and asked for help. Dean Thomas did the honours and Neville collapsed into a chair to recover._ _Harry, Ron and Hermione, now firm friends following an incident at Halloween with a troll in the girls bathroom, that the three gave very conflicting accounts of, were sat at one of the large tables working through Charms homework, though Ron looked slightly reluctant. Harry having spotted Neville when he walked in urged him join them. Once he had recounted what had happened they prompted him to report it but Neville thought it would make things worse._ _Harry gave Neville his last Chocolate Frog from Christmas and had told him he was worth twelve of Malfoy, he hadn't believed him but he felt grateful for the words anyway._

The day had started with such promise, the morning had been given over to talk of Quidditch strategy and weather conditions with sly bets being placed in light of the Gryffindor v. Hufflepuff match. Malfoy was still recovering from the shock of finding out Harry had been given special permission to join the team as a first year, making him the youngest Seeker in a century and was clearly in a foul mood.

He had been taunting the Gryffindor team plus Ron and Neville relentlessly and he could feel himself beginning to lose his temper. Anger was not a typical emotion for him, probably because he was usually too shy for it but he had reached the end of his patience with the Slytherin weeks ago and then Malfoy's voice broke through the crowd noise again;

"Longbottom, if brains were gold, you'd be poorer than Weasley"

That was one thing about Malfoy he may have been a bully but he was good at it, he had worked out early on what each of their weaknesses were, he knew Neville was sensitive about people thinking he was stupid, or that his magic wasn't very strong and Ron struggled with his family's status and wealth relative to the other pureblood families.

The comment triggered a challenge and ended up in a brawl. After standing up to Malfoy and issuing said challenge he had single-handedly taken on Malfoy's friends Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, while Ron fought Malfoy. Neither of his opponents could be considered on the small side and were both surprisingly adept at muggle fighting. Although he had been knocked out from the repeated punches Crabbe and Goyle directed at his face, Madam Pomfrey insisted that he would make a full recovery.

Ron had ended up back here as well, though he had a lot less bruising apparent than Neville did, he suspected that Malfoy's bark was a lot worse than his bite when it came to physical altercations. Ron had been given a couple of potions put in the bed opposite and had promptly fallen asleep. Having shared a dorm with him for months this was no surprise, the only thing Ron loved more than the Chudley Cannons, food or chess was his bed.

Their rivals came in separately a while after them and were kept to the other end of The Hospital Wing. Malfoy had similar injuries to Ron but elected to return back to his dormitory, Crabbe and Goyle had embarrassingly few injuries to speak of so had returned with him.

He didn't acknowledge that he had been half watching the door until it swung open and Hermione entered. She had come both other times he had ended up here and he realised that he expected her to come. _No not expected, depended, he could rely on her_.

He turned to face her and his smile dropped immediately when he caught sight of the impressive scowl she was sporting.

She berated him for well over ten minutes without interruption. How stupid he was, how worried she had been, did he know he could have been killed? when would he learn to stop listening to what Malfoy said? why would he put himself against those two they're like gorillas? and on and on.

When she finally came up for air he immediately spoke to prevent her from starting up again "but I stood up for myself".

Hermione sighed and strained to lift herself to perch on the bed muttering something about them ' _needing to get a step, not everyone was the size of Hagrid_ '

"I know' she said resigned and handed him a small paper bag with red and white vertical stripes. He looked at the bag questioningly, Hermione sighed again "Just how hard did they hit your head Neville?" She snatched the bag back off him and tipped the contents onto the bed. Over his legs was an assortment of snowmen, Father Christmas' and penguins all made out of brightly coloured paper, with string loops coming out from the tops of their heads. He lifted one holding it close to his face and peering at it "what is it?"

"It's chocolate in some muggle families you have wrapped chocolates like these on your Christmas trees as decorations, you eat them in the run up to and after Christmas"

"Ok, why are you giving them to me?" He asked curiously

"Well.." Hermione flushed "You might think this is silly but it's a tradition my dad started when I was little. I always had a hard time at school and Christmas was my favourite time of year so the first couple of weeks of term after the holidays I would get upset all the time. I didn't want to be at school I wanted to be at home with them. So my Dad one year made up this rule that we didn't eat any of the chocolate off the tree and after Christmas we kept it all and whenever I was sad he would give me one and we would remember the holiday and it would cheer me up...I know it's a bit silly…but I thought...I thought it might make you feel better?"

Neville quickly grabbed one of the chocolates from his bed and stuffed it into his mouth so he wouldn't have to speak, his throat had gone horribly dry in the last few minutes at the thought of being invited to partake in a family tradition. Hermione didn't say anything, she probably knew anyway, _know-it-all_ , she simply leant forward and picked up a penguin chocolate for herself and ate it, a lot more delicately than Neville had.

"So…" Hermione said breaking the silence, once the sound of their combined chewing had stopped "as I see I didn't need to make you feel better as you were feeling _very happy for yourself_ " some of her scolding tone from earlier returned but there was no heat behind it now "how about another chocolate as a _celebration of your triumph_?" She teased mockingly.

He snatched the one she had picked up off the bed and slowly unwrapped it, Hermione burst out laughing, she went to hit him instinctively and then remembering his injuries dropped her arm grimacing he huffed out a laugh and then they both giggled together for a while animatedly play fighting over the remainder of the chocolate. His earlier smile returning brighter than it had been before.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N Thank you to everyone who is reading and those that have had kind words to say about the story so far._

 _Really enjoying writing some fluffy goodness!_

* * *

 **Year One Chapter Four**

* * *

Neville was running through corridors trying to be as stealthy as he possibly could, which he knew wasn't very. He winced as his boot clunked on the floor heavier than expected.

He had found out about, Norbert, the Norwegian Ridgeback that Hagrid had been hiding in this hut. He had been in complete agreement when Hermione said the gamekeeper couldn't keep him, Hagrid however was mystified as to why there would be an issue having a dragon with the potential to grow up to a tonne in weight and capable of breathing fire in a wooden hut that was barely big enough for a man of his size, never mind that it was illegal. No he completely agreed he just wasn't sure why Harry, Ron and Hermione were taking it upon themselves to get rid of it.

Ron had sent a letter to his brother in Romania and Charlie Weasley had arranged to have some of his dragon tamer friends, _seriously Charlie was soo cool_ , to come to the Astronomy Tower at midnight to collect Norbert. Harry planned on using his invisibility cloak, again something he had only heard about this week, to get up there undetected.

On Neville's way back to Gryffindor Tower from the greenhouses he had overheard Malfoy telling Pansy Parkinson he was planning on sneaking out tonight as he knew ' _Saint Potter was up to something_ '. Against his better judgement Neville had decided to try to warn them. The plan he had was simple, find the three of them, tell them what Malfoy was up to and then get back to the dorms before they were caught by Flich or Mrs Norris.

He wasn't counting on being spotted by his Head of House. Professor McGonagall was furious. For the first time that year he thought he would rather have been on the wrong side of Snape than enduring her righteous vitriol. She took fifty points from him, _fifty...from her own house,_ and told him he would have to serve a detention.

The next morning Harry and Ron balefully told him they had been caught as well and the points counter in the Great Hall made for sad viewing, they were likely to be very unpopular for several days. On the upside at least Malfoy had been caught too.

* * *

Argus Filch's look of positive delight when they met him in the entrance hall should have been his first indication that it would be no regular detention. The school caretaker had a penchant for severe punishment and even had some torture equipment mounted to the walls in his office if the Weasley twins were to be believed.

Their detention was going to be served with Hagrid, in the Forbidden Forest, Filch walked them to Hagrid's door and knocked heavily. When the huge man opened the door he greeted the Gryffindor's kindly, Filch and Malfoy responded with equally disgusted looks to the scene. Filch reminded Hagrid that this was a detention and not a call for tea, Neville didn't think it was appropriate to voice that they were all there because of Hagrid so the least he could do was smile at them, apart from Malfoy he was there because he was an insufferable prick.

Hagrid walked them to the edge of the Forest and Neville started to feel very afraid, he had never even been this close to the forest before and especially not at this time of night. The shadows created by the bare trees lingered creepily on the ground and he cursed himself for the hundredth time for ever thinking it was a good idea to try to warn the others. He had actually read Hogwarts a History, granted not as many times as Hermione but enough to know that all kinds of creatures called the forest home. All kinds of creatures that probably didn't want to be disturbed by some rambling first years.

Hagrid informed them that something in the Forbidden Forest was killing Unicorns and Neville realised why the forest had been named as such, it certainly wasn't for alliterative reasons. Matters were made worse when he was paired with Malfoy and given Fang's leash to hold. If there was another living thing as scared as he was for tonight's activity it was Fang, he would be no use against anything they would come across.

Counter to all of his better judgement he followed the path Hagrid had instructed they take and began to move deeper into the forest. Malfoy was covering up his own fear by tormenting him, he kept droning on and on and Neville was sure he would alert the beast they were supposed to track of their location so he whisper-yelled at him to 'shut up'.

The wooded area went blissfully silent for several minutes, Neville became engrossed in watching the forest floor so he didn't trip over one of the many stray roots when suddenly something or someone jumped out of the line of trees to his left and grabbed on to his arm.

He reacted quicker than he could think, shouted and shot red sparks from his wand in the air as Hagrid had instructed they to do if they got into any trouble. During his movement he hadn't noticed the arm release him and when a noise broke through his consciousness he spun around to see Malfoy on the dirty ground doubled over with laughter.

Hagrid came bounding through the trees, taking in the sight before him it didn't take long to put together what had happened, Hagrid didn't bother to hide his annoyance with Malfoy and announced they would re-split the groups; Malfoy and Harry were to go with Fang and Neville and Hermione would go with Hagrid. Neville liked this distribution much better, though he did feel sorry for Harry and felt a twinge of guilt when the bespectacled Gryffindor sighed but not guilty enough to wave Hagrid off and carry on in the current teams.

They followed the gamekeeper as he walked back over to take up the path he had been trekking before. Hermione was uncharacteristically quiet and it took him a moment to realise she was scared, she jumped at every little sound, though she tried to cover it as much as possible. She was also hindered by her stature and slight frame. Hagrid made moving through the forest look easy but Hermione was struggling a little to keep up even more so than Neville who had reverted to studying the floor to avoid a tumble.

A large feral howl sounded somewhere in the woods and he felt Hermione's hand grip his. It was the second time she had done that, grasp his hand and it had surprised him as much this time as it had when she had done it on the boat.

In a way he felt pleased, Hermione never liked to show anyone she was afraid of anything, if she ever didn't know something or was scared she would become derisive and haughty. She would rather have people think she was snotty than know she was afraid. Even so she never hid her fear from him, not even on that first day.

He might have been terrified as well _and he was_ , but she was seeking comfort from him and it made him feel braver.

The forest went quiet around them again and Hermione made to pull her hand away from his. Acting on impulse he held onto it. She looked at him, her eyebrows raised in question.

"I'll help you keep up if you stop me from falling over?" He whispered.

Hermione smiled, a little shaky smile at him and seemed to release a huge breath "Deal".


	5. Chapter 5

_A/N couple of lines taken directly from canon as couldn't have said it better and now it's the end of first year...thank you to everyone reading this story and anyone who has reviewed, favourited or followed._

* * *

 **Year One Chapter Five**

* * *

It was the dead of night when Neville was jolted awake from a deep sleep by something banging against the end of his dorm bed. Immediately awake but reluctant to move Neville opened his eyes slowly to see what was going on. He could just make out his alarm clock, _it was gone midnight!_

Stirring further he pulled himself up onto his elbows and rubbed his eyes, he could make out the shapes of two figures moving about the room, repeatedly shushing each other. When he squinted further it became clear it was Harry and Ron. They were fumbling about getting dressed. Ron, never one to be that stable on his feet especially when overly tired fell about a bit. It must have been him that knocked his bed earlier.

After several minutes they grabbed their shoes and with a small creek, that did not disturb the other sleeping inhabitants of the dorm, they were out into the corridor.

It took a while for his mind to process what he had seen, then he realised they were going to out again. He knew he couldn't let that happen. The older Gryffindor students were barely speaking to them following the last big loss of points for breaking curfew and he knew they didn't want another detention in the Forbidden Forest, Harry had been extremely shaken up after the last time and it was no wonder, Neville had nightmares himself following Harry's description of a creature feasting on a unicorn.

Decision made he jumped from the bed and felt around for his dressing gown, donning it quickly he managed to make it out of the room without incident.

The common room felt warm, there was still the remains of an earlier fire burning in the grate. He spotted them organising themselves before the portrait hole, Hermione was with them. He couldn't believe she would be so stupid. She cared so much about the rules and listening to everything the Professors said. Getting into trouble the last time had been really hard on her. _Was this just so Harry and Ron would stay friends with her?_

He marched over to them, all three started as he approached, obviously not having heard him enter the room moments earlier.

"What are you three doing?"

"Look Neville we have to go and do... something, it's really important we wouldn't go otherwise you have to believe us" Harry implored.

Neville moved to block the portrait hole and fixed his face into the sternest expression he possibly could.

"You can't go out, you'll be caught again. Gryffindor will be in even more trouble... I won't let you do it. I'll ...I'll fight you!"

All three tried to reason with him but Neville remained unmoved, _this was important_ they would thank him for this later, maybe. After a couple of minutes of fruitless arguing he glimpsed Harry direct an exasperated look at Hermione and she gave him a slight nod albeit with an air of reluctance. Neville was elated, they were backing down, so he was surprised when she turned to face him and raised her wand but wouldn't meet his eyes.

"Neville I'm so _so sorry_ " she said earnestly

As usual Neville didn't have time to react before the spell was fired and then the next thing he knew his body falling back. She had hit him with the Full Body-Bind Curse. He laid there completely immobile, his mind in much the same state as his body. He couldn't believe that she had done it, he hoped her continued friendship with Harry and Ron was worth it.

* * *

The next day news was all over the castle about what the three first years had supposedly done the night before, so far that morning Neville had heard they had taken on a traitorous Professor Quirrell, a werewolf, a three headed dog, an acromantula and a logic puzzle set by Professor Snape while under the threat of fire, the stories got more and more fanciful.

* * *

It was now the end of term and he still hadn't spoken to Hermione. The boys had approached him the next day and they had sorted everything out with a simple ' _Alright Neville' 'Alright Harry'_ in the way things were done with boys in his dorm but Hermione had avoided his gaze constantly and removed herself if he came into the room. He knew she felt guilty, she spent a lot of time with her hair forward obscuring her face that week, but that didn't matter, he was angry at her, _wasn't he?_

He moved into the Great Hall to find it decked out with Slytherin colours, as expected. After eating the hall went quiet for the traditional award of the House Cup. Professor Dumbledore amazed everyone by saying there were some last minute points that had to be awarded, Ron got fifty points for a game of chess and Hermione the same amount for logic in the face of fire...maybe the rumours of what had happened were more based in fact than he had imagined. Harry was awarded sixty points for outstanding courage. In the pause everyone on their table was fiercely attempting to work out what the points totals were now until Hermione whispered.

"That puts us on even points with Slytherin" he realised that he hadn't heard her voice in days and how strange that was but could give it much thought as Dumbledore began speaking again, the hall fell into hush once more.

"As we all know there are all kinds of courage…" his voice echoed across the hall "it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends. I therefore award ten points to Mr. Neville Longbottom"

Neville was completely dumbstruck and stared open mouthed at the podium where the headmaster smiled at him his eyes twinkling. Even Professor McGonagall was clapping, he had thought he would have to wait until at least fourth year before he had a chance to work his way back into her good books.

His world become a flurry of slaps on the back, cheers and excited, not very quiet, murmurings of ' _Longbottom's done it we've won'_. The headmaster spoke again and the decorations of the room changed in a gust of wind from serpentine green to bold red tinged with gold and the roar from the lions erupted, reverberating around the space.

He couldn't wait to tell his Gran!

* * *

The next day the term and his first school year was over, with a heavy heart he joined the throng of students walking towards the carriages that would take them to The Express for the return journey to London. As he turned to take his last look at the castle he noticed Hermione running from the main entrance hall towards him. He spotted the moment she became aware he had seen her, she stilled and appeared to be having a debate with herself before he saw her deflate and then continue towards him at a fast pace but no longer a run. He considered walking away but he knew he wasn't upset with her anymore, not really. Hermione did everything and anything for her friends and he believed had the situation been different she would have stunned Ron or Harry for him, it hadn't been personal.

"Erm...Neville I...I just wanted to say that I am really sorry... I... about using the spell on you that night, I really didn't want to but felt like I had to at the time... I… I would have prefered to explain it all to you properly, there was...there was no time and well I'm just really sorry"

"It's ok Hermione"

"Really?" He felt a bit remorseful at the hopefulness of her tone he had not intended for her to assume he never wanted to be friends again.

"Of course" they started to walk together towards the carriages. Neville felt a weight lift of his chest now they were speaking again.

They walked in peaceable quiet before he noticed Hermione squirming a little by his side, he stopped and faced her.

"Erm Neville...Will you write to me over the Summer? I'm not likely to get any messages from Harry as he goes back to his Aunt and Uncle's house and they won't let him do anything that could connect him to the magical world and Ron isn't really one with words"

He looked up at her, she was biting her lip and looked so buoyant he couldn't say no.

"Sure I will, I'm not very good at letters either though, not sure I've ever really sent one to anyone other than my Gran before" he suddenly wondered what it would take for Hermione to deem you 'one with words'. She beamed at him.

"That's ok, I probably talk enough for two people anyway" they laughed together.

They got into a carriage and were swiftly followed by Ron and Harry who were bickering good naturedly about some Quidditch move or other. Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled out a book from her bag. The carriage moved off with a bit of a start and Neville looked around the assembled group, his face broke into a bright smile.

It had been a tough year, he'd not been very good in most of the classes, baring Herbology, he'd had to endure the censure of his peers for lost house points and he'd spent far too much time in The Hospital Wing but he'd made friends, really really good friends.


	6. Chapter 6

_A/N Thank you to all of the readers, favouriters and reviewers of this cavalcade of fluff. A glorious 39 of you are now following. I hope you enjoy this next section, this is the only Chapter I have planned for year two._

* * *

 **Year Two Chapter One**

* * *

The blood soaked walls declaring the Chamber of Secrets was open created a sense of panic throughout the castle. The news that 'enemies of the heir' were in danger spread and distorted like all rumours through schools. The Professors had to fight against increasingly disrupted lessons as the students had endless questions especially those in the lower years like Neville and his friends. The Chamber opening also had the somewhat surprising effect of creating a black market for talismans and other protections from the creature in the layer. It reminded him of something his Uncle Algie had once said 'where there is fear there is profit'.

Neville purchased a pointed purple crystal that hung from a gold pendant chain which was supposed to protect against 'dark creatures'. Neville knew that was a bit vague and if he had been forced to defend the purchase he knew he would have little to offer but he was genuinely afraid, since the first attack he hadn't been sleeping well.

After the second attack, on Colin Creevey Neville fears that he would be attacked escalated. He was prevented from purchasing a rotting newt tail by Ron and Harry who then dragged him back to the common room, once in the relative safety of Gryffindor Tower Harry forcefully but kindly reminded Neville that as he was a pureblood he wouldn't be at risk.

This did not sway Neville, years of being made to feel inferior by his relations exacerbated by terms of consistent bullying had resulted in him having very little faith in his magical abilities.

"They went for Filch first. And everyone knows I'm almost a Squib"

Harry sighed exasperatedly, Hermione poked her head up from the comfy chair she was sitting in, only her ridiculous hair and eyes visible. Neville often thought she was like a cat, she always seemed to be located in the warmest spot of the room. Even with a limited amount of her face showing he could see her expression looked pained.

"Please don't say that Neville" she said pleadingly.

"Why? You know it's true" he didn't mean to take his stress out on her, he was feeling incredibly vulnerable, he had wanted to make a strong argument to justify his actions to his friend but his words sounded petulant even to him.

"Neville" she said softly, his shoulders sagged as he raised his eyes to face her "how do you feel when you hear people call me mudblood?"

Harry and Ron had stiffened he loathed Malfoy for calling her that so persistently, it caused Hermione, who was never one to show her distress to use it often herself to act like she didn't care even though the hurt in her expression was clear. He tried to formulate words over the competing rage and hurt he was feeling.

"I...I hate it" he got out finally, not able to meet her eyes

"Well, that's how I feel when you talk like that about yourself"

Neville let the words sink in he wasn't sure anyone had ever defended him like Hermione did, regularly. She defended Ron and Harry too but she also hit them over the back of the head a lot though in fairness they did _mostly_ deserve it. She was always more patient with him. He wondered if it was because she pitied him though she wasn't really the pitying kind.

"Ok" he said finally.

"Good now can we go back to having a peaceful afternoon I've got my parchment on Defense to finish"

All of the boys groaned.

"You may moan but Professor Lockhart is a very respected member of his field. Can you imagine having that many books published" her eyes had taken on a dreamlike quality he had become quite familiar with this year.

He ignored Ron's shouts of protest, he agreed with him but he had no desire to argue with her on this. She didn't realise she was being obvious, it was clear she had a bit of crush on the purple robed fraud he couldn't understand what she saw in him, Lockhart was an idiot. It was just so unlike Hermione not to make an accurate assessment of a person's intelligence. He had noticed her copy of Wanderings with Werewolves had acquired its own protective casing since he had caught her asking for Professor Lockhart to sign it. He had been waiting for her outside after the end of class and had overheard her approach him, when she had exited the classroom she was distinctly flustered and he had to try very hard to not laugh at her.

Oh well, she would learn soon enough _it could have been worse_ he consoled himself, _it could have been Snape_.

* * *

Then the whole world shifted, talismans and protective objects seemed ridiculous and almost offensive to those truly at risk as he stood in the ward.

Professor McGonagall had come to fetch Harry Ron and himself from History of Magic, she didn't say anything just asked them to follow and they did so, silently. He had known something was wrong when Hermione wasn't in class, she never missed a lesson and even in History of Magic, where everyone else would be on the verge of falling asleep she would be sat up ramrod straight in her seat diligently taking notes pausing only to shake Ron when he would inevitably begin snoring.

He realised that they were walking towards The Hospital Wing and he felt dread pool in his stomach. When they approached the large doors their Head of House swung round for a second and eyed them opening her mouth to say something before shaking her head, stepping forward to usher them in.

There was screening shielding the left side of the ward, it had been put in place following the first attack to prevent students that came in for day to day scrapes from gawking at the petrified students. Madam Pomfrey came out of her office and directed them over to a break in the white screens, there in the bed directly opposite was Hermione, unruly curls splayed over the pillows, arms over the pulled up cover, her face looking unnaturally white miles away from her usual faintly tanned skin.

Her features were etched with a look of surprise like all of the other students in the row it looked unsettling on the others but on Hermione he hated the expression, seeing her face rigid made him long to see her other emotions. She had such an expressive face.

Harry and Ron stood fixed at the end of the bed but Neville moved forward without thinking to look at her closer, her right hand was holding a mirror his face scrunched with confusion momentarily before as gently as he could he wrenched it from her frozen grip.

He placed the mirror on the bed and clutched her now empty hand between his two larger ones. Her delicate hands were so cold, too cold. He unconsciously began rubbing his hand rhythmically over her's in an attempt to warm her icy fingers. He registered somewhere in the back of his mind that this was the first time he had reached for her instead of the other way round. He wondered if she was aware of her surroundings, he hoped if she was that she would derive comfort from his warmth, knowing he was there.

Suddenly the stillness of her form came to his attention, there was no rise and fall to her chest. He looked up at Madam Pomfrey in horror.

"She's ok Mr Longbottom" she said reassuringly "She _is_ breathing the nature of this curse means that the whole body remains unmoving"

Uncaring for those around him Neville stood and draped himself over her so he could lay his ear to her mouth. He could just make out the faint sound of her raspy breaths, he shifted and he could detect a glimmer of air against his cheek. The vice like fist around his heart losten marginally.

"Her parents?" He asked, though he already knew the answer.

Madam Pomfrey sighed "They can't come here, muggles cannot come to the castle and there is the… well the Headmaster is reluctant to inform them… I think he is worried they might pull the children out of the school"

Neville nodded he understood, it wasn't fair in many respects but he didn't want Hermione to leave school. It would be a difficult situation to explain to a magical parent let alone a non-magical one but to tell no one, for all of these students to by lying here unrepresented was wrong. He had listened to enough of Hermione's rants to know this was something she would object to.

He stood back from Hermione and squeezed her hand gently, he turned to face Ron and Harry, they still hadn't moved. Harry's eyes looked glassy and Ron looked like he couldn't decide if he wanted to boil over with rage or scream with terror. He walked towards them and put his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"I'll be back in a little bit… I need to go write a letter".

* * *

The next day Neville was sat in a small chair next to Hermione's bed, he hadn't bothered to go to lessons that day and Madam Pomfrey had not been that stern in trying to get him to leave. It wasn't like Hermione would know he was with her but that wasn't the whole point, he would have known that she was in the ward and he would not have been able to concentrate if he tried. Being close to her stopped his worrying a little, enough for him to be able to focus in any case.

He grabbed Hermione's hand and settled opening up his Herbology textbook to begin reading aloud from the chapter on tropical plants. Hermione like those ones the best she was a bit of a Summer baby and during the cold winters in Scotland she would often ask him to tell her about the exotic plants he knew of and the sunny climes they hailed from.

That was how Augusta Longbottom found them. Neville had dashed off yesterday and gone straight to the owlery, Hermione might not have parents in the magical world but that didn't mean she was without people that cared about her, he wanted to make sure she was being watched over. He knew his Gran, he wasn't the only one that was afraid of her. As much as her appearing at Hogwarts was a recurring theme in some of his worst nightmares this was necessary.

He had told his Gran about Hermione, his first friend, in letters during the first year and over the Summer holidays. She had been impressed that the girl had the highest marks in her year and seemed interested when one of their many exchanged letters over the Summer had requested his recommendations for some further Herbology reading. His Gran had encouraged Neville's friendship with her.

"This is her then?" Neville started as the voice broke through his little bubble, he completely missed the slight inflection in his Gran's tone.

"Yes, this is Hermione"

"Well" she laid a hand on Neville's shoulder "from everything you have said this one is made of stern stuff"

Neville nodded solemnly "I hope so Gran"

"Well, sitting here all day isn't going to help" She glanced down at Neville's book and sighed "Neville, being adequate with plants is one thing but to have any chance of a semi-successful career you will need to make _vast_ improvements in your other subjects. I expect you to be in your afternoon classes"

Neville felt protest build in his mind but one look at his Gran's countenance told him that this was not up for discussion.

"I understand" he said resigned to following her wishes even as he was pondering how he would be even more useless than normal.

"Good now I must go find Dumbledore, all these students mounting up and not a thing said to their parents not on my bloody watch"

And with that she marched out of The Hospital Wing.


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N Thank you to everyone who is supporting this fic by reading, reviewing, favouriting and following. We are now into third year and it's the beginning of some of the angst that both characters go through… enjoy!_

* * *

 **Year Three Chapter One**

* * *

Neville looked around the train compartment relishing the scene, it was so different to the first year and the year before. He was sat next to Hermione, brilliant, alive, no longer petrified Hermione, they were joined by Harry and Ron who we on the other side of the carriage next to a sleeping Professor they hadn't met.

The compartment was loud and rambunctious and Neville loved it. After an initial fallout between Ron and Hermione over her new cat Crookshanks she had stowed her bristles and they had all been exchanging stories of their respective summers.

Neville was once again delighted to be heading back to the freedom of Hogwarts. His second year grades had left a lot to be desired and although they had improved since his first year it had not been enough to satisfy Augusta who had reminded him that his Dad had been one of the top students of his year from the very beginning. Neville had shrunk inside himself, though rather than her words completely obliterating all the confidence he had gained from another years schooling he felt a little spark of something that made sure he wasn't too disheartened. A small voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Hermione had chided him ' _none of your Professors have mentioned your Dad being top of his year'_ other voices, louder ones would shout it down ' _yes, that's because they know about his parents and they don't want to upset him'_ the Hermione voice would tsk and refuse to be silenced. Although the competing arguments made him feel like he was going slightly mad it was a relief to have at least one view fighting against the normal litany of negative ones.

After hours spent acclimatising to being around friends again the group started to get hungry, Neville volunteered to go in search of the food trolley. He had just made his way out of the door when the train stuttered a little and then completely stopped. Neville moved to stand at the nearest window to check for any visible reason for the delay. Before his eyes the glass began to frost, starting at the corners and then splintering through the pane like cobwebs until all of the glass square was opaque.

Neville backed up slightly and then stilled as the lights flickered and dimmed several times before going out completely. Panicked voices rang from all the compartments but he wasn't listening he hastened his way back down the corridor to the compartment he had just exited.

Guided by the small amount of light that had made its way through the windows he opened the door. As soon as he moved into the darkened carriage he crashed straight into something, stumbling to the floor.

"Ow" a pained feminine voice sounded.

"Hermione?"

"Neville?" her voice sounded relieved "Lift your foot"

"Sorry I…"

"Not that foot the other foot"

All fumbling protests were cut off as the carriage door was forced open again, this time with a much less welcome intrusion. A dementor pushed itself inside the space and Neville felt the joy be ripped from the world around him. He saw his Dad staring at him with blank eyes, he saw his Mum, arms covered in recent bruises absent smile on her face while a healer explained to his Gran in hushed tones that she had been having _'a difficult week'._ He heard his Gran telling him he would never amount to anything, that he would dishonour his parents and his family legacy, that he wasn't fit to carry the burden of being the last of his House. Then he saw her, Hermione laid out in the hospital bed pale and unresponsive, cold and gone.

The dementor moved forward and Neville instinctively pushed himself in front of Hermione's form his only clear thought that she couldn't get hurt again, not again, he wouldn't allow it.

But the dementor didn't want Hermione, it moved forward with a gliding motion and directed all of its focus onto Harry. The whole compartment started when Harry screamed, the noise was so childlike it was...pure emotion, bile rose in Neville's stomach and his brain furiously turned over what to do.

Before any of the students could reach for their wands the figure in the corner suddenly jumped up and with languid ease conjured a patronus that hit the creature squarely, knocking it back to the other side of the corridor.

Moments later the lights flickered again before coming on fully and the train hummed and hawed before starting up slowly.

"I must speak to the driver, I will be back shortly" the Professor said none of the children on the floor had the ability to respond.

Once the events had begun to sink in they all began to move, Neville flushed when he realised that in his haste to protect her he was not only practically sat on top of Hermione he had also backed her up completely to the carriage wall.

He leapt up and apologised, not missing the slight pink in her cheeks and clumsily pulled her off the floor. As they sat back down on the seats he saw Ron shooting him unhappy looks. He didn't do it on purpose, he hadn't hurt her _what was Ron's problem?_

Professor Lupin came back and gave them all magical chocolate, he said it would help with the after effects. Neville took his grateful for anything that would alleviate the lingering dread he was feeling. Hermione stood to take the piece of chocolate she was proffered and stayed up for a second to settle Crookshanks who was making his displeasure at the events of the last half an hour known.

As Neville put his head back on the seat letting the feeling of the chocolate wash over him he was dimly aware that Hermione had sat back down, presumably having been able to sooth the mangy cat, and that she was sitting a lot closer than she had been before.

* * *

Term began in the same way as the two previous years though as third year students they now had different elective classes they could take for O.W.L.s. They had two of those classes in the first week and neither were without a modicum of drama.

In Divination, which was held in an over perfumed classroom that had an unsettling resemblance to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop. All assembled were witness to an event they would have previously thought impossible. Hermione disagreed with a Professor, 'Professor' might have been a bit generous for Trelawney but still. Then not satisfied with that display Hermione walked out. All of the Gryffindors were struck dumb, Neville was so shocked he dropped his tea cup, an action which was met with far less surprise.

He caught up with the deserter at lunch were himself, Ron and Harry made a bit of show of checking that it was really 'their' Hermione and not someone merely Polyjuiced to look like her.

* * *

Later that week was their first Care of Magical Creatures lesson. Neville had always liked Hagrid and as such was hoping for a successful lesson for the former Gamekeeper. Sadly it was not to be, where Harry had triumphed in making the Hippogriff bow everyone that followed failed. Neville himself bowed four or five times without response from Buckbeak and had decided to slowly edge away.

The lesson ended when Malfoy, who had been growing impatient, insulted the animal after ignoring Hagrid's warning about their comprehension and intelligence. The Hippogriff reared back on its hind legs and scratched the Slytherin's arm. Once he had finished screaming a fawning Pansy Parkinson took him to The Hospital Wing.

* * *

Potions lessons continued that year the same as they had the two previous, Neville wished he could hate Snape like Harry and Ron did that would be manageable, fear wasn't. One element that had improved was his partner, after the disaster of sitting with Seamus in the first year as soon as the second began he moved to sit next to Hermione and this year when they walked into the dungeon classroom she automatically sat at the seat on the same bench as him.

Despite being sat together Harry and Ron were having a more difficult time with 'potions partners'. Following Malfoy's incident with the hippogriff he continually complained to Snape about the difficulty of preparing ingredients by himself and the Professor instructed Harry and Ron to assist, much to their obvious disgust.

They were working quietly on the Shrinking Solution, Snape pacing the room as usual when he noticed he'd made a mistake. The potion had somehow turned orange instead of the green that the instructions described. Predictably Snape was enraged, he stalked to the front of Neville's potion and his face broke into a sneer.

"You have until the end of the lesson to correct this Mr Longbottom… and I suggest you do as whatever you have managed to brew by the end of the hour will be fed to your familiar"

The Slytherins burst into laughter and Neville eyed Trevor guilty. Snape swept away with an air of victory and Neville deflated. In his embarrassment and despair he didn't notice Hermione edging towards his cauldron, keeping her eyes on their Professor lest she be discovered. She darted a look down at the contents and took a deep sniff before silently stepping back behind her own cauldron.

"Neville" she whispered out of the corner of her mouth "You've added too much leech juice"

He turned to face her.

"Don't look at me" she whisper yelled "Just listen to what I say and do it _exactly_ as I say and we will save Trevor" she continued encouragingly.

Neville nodded resolved and he and Hermione worked quietly over the next twenty minutes to try and save his potion and as a consequence his toad.

Snape approached their bench with great fanfare at the end of the lesson. Neville noticed in his peripheral vision that the other students had inched from their own places to gather round. He stared up at Snape's face intently and he was able to detect a tiny flicker in his eyes when he leant over the cauldron to see the glimmering green liquid within.

He dutifully albeit reluctantly handed Trevor over and Snape administered two drops. A pin drop could have been heard in the room and there was no movement at all for a second until very gradually Trevor began to shrink and then with a faint pop he became a tadpole. Snape sneered. He flicked his wand lazily and returned Trevor to his toad form before rounding on Hermione.

"I do believe I asked Mr Longbottom to correct his potion Miss Granger not you"

Hermione stiffened and flushed slightly averting her gaze "Sir...I"

"I do not want to hear your excuses Miss Granger, five points from Gryffindor for being such an _insufferable know-it-all_ "

The Slytherins laughed as Snape dismissed the class, Hermione packed up her things without saying another word and the Gryffindors headed for dinner, when they got to the Great Hall she turned.

"Erm… I think I might miss dinner tonight, not very hungry"

He wanted to force her but he had seen the faint hint of water in the corner of her eyes and let her retreat feeling dreadful. An hour later his brain full of Harry and Ron's rage monologues on Snape's teaching method he entered the portrait hole to find Hermione snuggled on a sofa in front of the fire with Crookshanks perched on her lap. He moved quietly in an attempt to not startle her and dropped to sit next to her, Crookshanks raised a tired eye at him staring him down for several seconds before he shut it again presumably to return to sleep.

His hand circled her wrist gently and she made a small noise of surprise before he deposited a napkin in her palm. She eyed it wearily before opening it to find a small apple tart.

"Thank you" her voice was a little horse and now he was closer he could see her face was a blotchy.

"You're not insufferable Hermione" he said quietly, she made no response simply carried on her slow chewing of the tart.

"And as for being a know-it-all" he continued "well maybe sometimes that's a little true" he tried with a small smile, he saw a faint quirk of her lips and was reassured he wasn't offending her "but if you weren't who knows what would have happened to Trevor"

She laughed, it wasn't the same light bubbly sound as usual, it was strained but when he looked at her face he could see some of the lines diminish around her eyes and he thought that was probably good enough for now.


	8. Chapter 8

_A/N and our story continues, this chapter covers an event that I really find pretty difficult to swallow so through the medium of fanfiction I am attempting to correct it._

 _Thank you as ever for reading, reviewing, adding to your favourites and following. An unbelievable 61 of you are now following this story… I love you all :)_

* * *

 **Year Three Chapter Two**

* * *

Neville was standing in the corridor waiting for the first Defence against the Dark Arts lesson of the new term. Having seen Professor Lupin in action on The Express he was fairly certain he was already in with a good shout of being the best Defence instructor to date.

He cast a cursory glance over at Hermione who was organising her study planner ahead of being assigned homework, probably in a state of rapturous delight at the very idea. He noticed the little pink hearts he had caught glimpses of on the Defence section in last year's timetable were absent this year and he felt... relief… _well it was silly for her to have crushes on Professors, especially ones like_ _Lockhart._ Professor Lupin opened the classroom door wide and stepped outside into the corridor

"Hello third years, welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts, we have a special practical lesson today so when you go in please leave your bags at the edge of the room and stand in the centre of the cleared area"

Before anyone could move anywhere the dark figure of Professor Snape appeared in the corridor presumably on his way to the dungeons.

"Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."

Despite now being thirteen Neville hadn't lost the dread of Professor Snape, he didn't hate him like Ron and Harry he wished he did, he was afraid of him. It was an irrational fear almost like a phobia, irrational as it wasn't as if Snape was going to kill him, at least most of the time he was sure.

As he got older the fear deepened, he had expected that over time his fear would have alleviated if not from having grown up at least lessening through prolonged exposure. However, while he may not have gotten over it he did feel like he understood it better. It wasn't so much fear of the man, though the Professor retained his ability to intimidate him, it was what his thinly veiled disdain for Neville represented. The Potions Master brought out all of Neville's biggest insecurities, he made him feel clumsy and awkward, stupid and simple and most damaging of all irrelevant. Being in his presence and failing to deliver was like all of the voices he had heard as a child, the admonishments of his Gran the whispered conversations of his Aunts over tea ' _such as shame he's not gifted like his father'_ , voices Neville could still hear, were right and with that pressure growing in his chest each Potions lesson Neville would crumble.

Outside of his Potions lessons Neville was still not the brightest student but he was never made to feel small or weak, He felt his heart sink into his shoes at Snape's words, he didn't want another teacher to write him off.

He was broken out of his thoughts by Professor Lupin responding "I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation, and I am sure he will perform it admirably".

He perked slightly though he was sure the new Professor would be forced to agree with Snape by the end of the lesson.

* * *

Filing into the corridor an hour later Neville couldn't wipe the grin off his face. The image of Professor Snape in his Grandmother's best outfit, including stuffed fox stole and vulture trimmed hat, could never be taken away from him. He wondered if Hermione would help him with extracting the memory so he could view it in a pensieve at a later date… over and over again.

Neville had confidently dispatched the Boggart winning ten points for Gryffindor and he was pretty sure he felt a little taller as the rabble made their way to lunch.

* * *

At Christmas he had suspected but by mid-March he was certain, something was going on with Hermione. He didn't know what exactly, she was more harried than usual, he hadn't even been aware that it was possible to study more but she was. Her timetable didn't make sense, she seemed to be taking all the available O.W.L. subjects, apart from Divination _how was she finding time to do them all?_

When he noticed that she seemed more agitated and distracted he watched her. She wasn't eating properly, sure she would come to The Great Hall and sit down with everyone else, to someone that wasn't paying particular attention it would appear like nothing was wrong but she wasn't eating anything. She would put some food on her plate and pick at it uninterestedly before leaving to scurry off back to the library again. He wasn't even sure she knew she was doing it.

How had no one else noticed that she had clearly lost weight? That she spent every waking moment in The Library? Was she truly so invisible to everyone?

Then came the incident with the Firebolt, she had taken it to Professor McGonagall because she was worried. Harry was in danger, their Head of House had confiscated the broom to run tests and when she had told the boys there had been a big blow up in the common room. Harry and Ron weren't speaking to her _at all_ and it had gone on for weeks.

Following the third week of her 'punishment' from the boys she got worse. Where she had been irritable and snappish she became quiet and withdrawn, Neville wasn't certain he had even heard her speak this week. In classes she had moved to sit towards the back, she kept her eyes averted and answered none of the Professor's questions, even when they asked her for the answer she would simply shake her head or shrug.

Her face that had been drawn through weight loss now became pale, eyes that had bags under them now had circles so dark it looked like bruising. She looked perpetually on the brink of tears like a strong wind would blow her right over. Neville had had enough, he could understand their frustration, it was an awesome broom but to ignore her, to act like she didn't exist, _both of them_ … it was too much. They _had_ to see the state she was in. Hermione didn't have many friends so when she fell out with Harry and Ron the effect on her was always dramatic, coupled with whatever had been going on already this was clearly too much for her.

He sought her out in The Library but she wasn't there, marching around the castle for ages he finally found her in the Astronomy Tower, surrounded by books, shivering despite being wrapped in a thick woollen blanket.

"Hermione are you ok?"

She looked up at him, her hair was piled up on top of her head though most of her springy curls had escaped the confines of her hair tie, her skin was so pale she looked like she had been petrified again. Her eyes looked impossibly large in her small face.

"Yes" she said but her voice hitched

Neville moved to sit down, carefully navigating the books litters all over the stone floor, he moved slowly as if approaching a small wild animal that would startle and scamper off if he got too close too quick.

"When was the last time you ate? or slept?"

"I'm... I'm not sure" her brows furrowed, she wasn't being evasive it would appear that she genuinely didn't know.

"You're not looking after yourself" Neville asserted.

Her bottom lip started to tremble and Neville felt extreme panic, her trembling lip gave way to heartfelt sobs and at a loss of what else to do he very woodenly put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into him, letting her cry against his chest.

"Why didn't you come and speak to me if you were upset?"

"I thought...I...I thought you would be ang...angry about the broo...the broom too" she choked out between sobs. He pulled her tighter.

"Never Hermione, never, _I'm never not speaking to you_ ok?"

"O...Ok"

"Hermione what's all this about?"

"Told y...you… broom"

"No not that, this started before then, you're killing yourself"

"Taking a… a lot of classes...and need to do well….Professor McGo… McGonagall… she put her tru… trust in me...need to do well… and now Buckbeak… have to help... Hagrid"

There were several more sentences but by that point her words were almost unintelligible. Half an hour later once she was all cried out he moved slightly and started gathering her things.

"What are you doing?" Her voice was thick from having cried for so long, her little face was blotchy, her eyelids almost welded together.

"I'm collecting up your stuff come on" his voice was more authoritarian than he had heard previously and she looked a somewhat stunned before she scrambled to stand and went to take her bag. Neville waved off her hand and put her satchel onto his shoulder then grabbed her hand and headed to the common room.

* * *

When they entered the portrait hole most of the occupants turned round to look at the scene, Neville only then realised that they were still holding hands. He felt Hermione attempt to pull away but in a moment of bravery, knowing that she needed him he gripped her small hand tighter.

Hermione flushed under the scrutiny of their housemates, he could see she was aware it was obvious she had been in tears. He was moving her further into the room when Ginny came bounding over, the fiery red head looked at the both of them and quickly eyed their joined hands but said nothing. She smiled kindly at Hermione.

"Hi Hermione, I haven't seen you for a little while, Luna and I were wondering if you wanted to come down to the kitchens with us after dinner and have some cocoa?"

Hermione looked a little sheepish but Neville tugged on her arm pulling her forward almost like you would have done to a shy child.

"Yes Ginny that would be lovely" Hermione answered finally, Ginny beamed at her and Hermione smiled a shaky smile back.

Neville's heart lightened slightly at the improvement that made to her appearance.

"Hermione go to bed for a couple of hours yeah? I will wait for you down here before dinner" He wanted to capitalize on the compliance he had probably managed to achieve through shock in the last couple of hours and get her to eat and sleep before it wore off. She nodded then let go of his hand reaching to take her satchel from him. Neville stepped back from her, moving the bag from her grasp and shook his head.

"You won't need that for sleep"

She was straightening herself out getting ready to protest until tiredness must have won out and she sagged.

"Ok"

He and Ginny both watched as she trudged slowly up the stairs, when she had disappeared from view Ginny turned to him.

"Thank you Neville, I don't know what you did but I have been so worried about her, I've been trying to get her to talk to me for days but it was like she couldn't really hear me"

"That's ok… would you mind going up to check she has actually gone to sleep? I know she's probably got some more books up there"

Ginny smiled knowingly "good idea, I'll go check"

"And will you help me get her to dinner? After she has some rest she might go back to her old self and hex me for having bullied her into sleeping"

Ginny laughed and promised she would bring her back downstairs before dinner. Neville turned to find a vacant chair and saw Ron and Harry eyeing him. He walked over to where they were sat, abandoned chess board between them.

"What are you playing at Neville? Hermione…"

Neville was exhausted, he wasn't sure he had ever seen anyone as upset as Hermione had been earlier and he didn't have the energy to deal with one of Ron's explosions so he cut him off before he could get started "Make up with Hermione"

"Neville you can't be serious, what about what she did? What about the Firebolt?"

"I don't care about the broom"

"The broom... It wasn't just a bloody broom it's a …."

"Make up with her… She's crumbling, she puts herself under ridiculous pressure to be the best to prove that she should be here, that she has a _right_ to be here. She's so skinny I could have probably carried her down the stairs from the Astronomy Tower this afternoon"

He turned to face Harry who had so far remained silent "How can you not care? She is supposed to be your friend"

Harry flushed "Erm...we'll speak to her Neville"

"Good" Neville was glad the confrontation was over, the adrenaline was wearing off and the shock that he had argued with both the boys was settling in.

"Has she really not been eating?" Harry asked hesitantly.

"No" Neville sighed, sitting down next to them "Or sleeping"

"Ok, we'll talk to her" Ron said with reluctance seeping into his tone.

"Great" Neville said without enthusiasm, he rubbed his face, he wanted to defuse the tension "can I play winner" he pointed to the chessboard.

"What you mean is can you play Ron next?" Harry said with a smile and they all laughed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Year Three Chapter Three**

* * *

Neville had always been forgetful, it had become something of a running joke at home and then as soon he came to Hogwarts it became a running joke there as well.

It wasn't like he forgot important things it was the little stuff, things exactly like the password to Gryffindor Tower. He had been continually forgetting them since he arrived at the castle and in their third year they had been changed so frequently that Neville had been locked out of the Tower three times already he had been so embarrassed at having to wait for someone to come by to let him in he reluctantly wrote them down.

When Sirius Black had managed to break into Gryffindor Tower no one could understand how he had made it in until a small piece of parchment was found outside the portrait hole, the scrap of parchment showed a list of the rotating ten passwords drawn up in scratchy lettering. Writing the passwords down was strictly against the rules and recognising the handwriting immediately Professor McGonagall rounded on him

"Mr Longbottom, my office...now!"

He walked behind her in silence his throat turning dry with apprehension. They eventually made it to her office and she gestured for him to move inside. She didn't take a seat and Neville knew after years of being set down that her remaining standing was a definite bad sign. His Head of House's expression was grave as she banned him from all future visits into Hogsmeade for the remainder of the school year and he had detention with her every night for a week. He would also now not be trusted to receive the passwords to the portrait hole at all and would have to wait outside the Tower until someone came past, the very thing he had been trying to avoid in the first place. Finally through with her rant McGonagall dismissed him and he darted from the room willing the stinging behind his eyes to abate.

He headed back to the Tower terrified of seeing the rest of his house at that moment he didn't really have anywhere else to go. As he turned the last corner he saw Hermione settled in an alcove at the side of the corridor.

"Hi Neville, I thought I would wait for you here, wasn't sure if you wanted to go back to the Tower yet? Do you want to go somewhere else?"

Neville was silent, he had been so worried about her reaction she was such a stickler for the rules and he had put Harry in danger, he realised he had once again underestimated her not just her loyalty but her regard for him.

She jumped up and grabbed his arm "Come on! I found out something new this week"

She dragged him down corridors heading towards the Hufflepuff dormitory stopping when they reached a giant portrait of a fruit bowl.

"Tickle the pear" she said smiling

"What?" he answered looking incredulous

"Tickle. The. Pear." she was clearly trying to sound serious but was ineffectively suppressing giggles. Realising she was determined he reached forward, and feeling like a prize idiot tickled the pear. He started as the fruit twitched and made a tinkling laughing sound and a doorway appeared in the wall.

"Follow me" Hermione said and marched down the corridor that had been revealed.

They ended up in the Hogwarts kitchens, the elves appeared and Hermione asked them very kindly if they might have some tea an elf nodded and they were directed to a table at the back, out of the way of what seemed like over a hundred very busy elves.

Hermione had come to him earlier in the year demanding to know if his family kept house elves which they did, she seemed to have got some twisted notion concerning their welfare off the back of Dobby's treatment with the Malfoys which he assured her was atypical. His eyes had widened as she had outlaid her plans to free all of the Hogwarts house elves and form a group for their protection. It took a long time, a lot of protracted arguments and the promise of arranging a meeting with one of the Longbottom family elves before she would give up her plan. He was almost totally convinced she believed him now, though she would still ask any elf she came across very seriously how they were and how they were treated. The elves seem to largely indulge her if eyeing her at times like she may have been somewhat mentally deficient.

A moment later a full tea service tray arrived with a secondary tray filled with all manner of cakes and biscuits. Hermione poured the hot liquid and asked what McGonagall had said. Neville took the tea she proffered and told her everything. When he had got to the end Hermione was furious, she ranted for five minutes about how heavy handed the treatment was. Neville was shocked… again. Not only did Hermione never disparage teachers McGonagall was practically a Saint to curly haired witch.

Hermione reached forward to grab a chocolate eclair, stuffing it into her mouth and eating with a lot less elegance than he was used to seeing from her.

"We have to do something Neville, we can't have you sitting outside the Tower waiting for people to go past it's not fair…"

Hermione continued but he had become distracted by a large blob of cream that had smeared on her nose. It took away from her rage fuelled face… and made her look...Neville thought she looked adorable actually, he wasn't sure where that had come from he'd never really looked at her, well anyone like that. Before he could check himself he leant forward and gently swiped his thumb across the bridge of her nose. Hermione stilled and stopped talking instantly, her wide eyes locked onto him.

Neville flushed "Oh… Sorry… you had cream… from the eclair...on your nose" he held up his hand in front of her face, feeling the need to provide evidence for his explanation.

Hermione's cheeks went pink, not the kind of all over flush that Neville sported when he was embarrassed, her's was rather prettier, he thought.

"Oh...Oh… thank you, that will teach me for not using a fork"

Silence fell between them and for the first time it was uncomfortable. Neville racked his brain to think of something to say.

"So." he coughed "What's your plan?"

Hermione exhaled heavily, she looked relieved the silence had been broken too.

"I'm not sure yet but I'll work on it, I promise Neville I'll do what I can"

* * *

Two days later and Neville had barely seen Hermione, true to her word she had been in The Library looking up something that would supposedly help. Neville felt bad for adding to her workload at this time of year, especially when only a month or so before she was teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown. But he couldn't find it within himself to ask her to stop either. It was nice that she cared enough about him to try and standing outside the common room was humiliating.

Just as he sat down for breakfast the post arrived, amongst the letters, getting the attention of all of the Great Hall was a bright scarlet envelope, Neville felt a sense of foreboding as the owl clutching it made its way towards him before dropping the envelope on top of his plate.

Logically he knew that the longer he left it the worse it would be but he couldn't get his body to respond to the screaming in his head telling him to grab it and run from the hall as quickly as possible. He really wasn't sure how much more embarrassment he could take.

He knew he had waited too long when the sides of the envelope started to smoke and the red parchment ripped from his fingers up into the air in front of him forming a mean, slit eyed, scowling face.

"NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM YOU ARE" his Gran's voice began but whatever he was supposed to be was left to the imaginations of those present as the envelope seemed to implode in on itself creating several small fireworks before fading into ashes that slowly fell to the table top.

All eyes went to Hermione who was nonchalantly putting her wand back in its holster up her sleeve before she dusted some of the fallen ash to her shoulders.

Seeing everyone's eyes directed at her she lifted a brow "What?"

"Err Hermione… how did you even know how to do that?" Harry asked

"It's really no big deal Harry, last year when Ron got one from Mrs Weasley I researched the magic, I thought it would be a pretty good idea to know how to get rid of one"

"Can you teach me?" Seamus asked instantly. Hermione winced "With your natural talent for combustion Seamus I'm not sure and incineration spell would be a responsible thing for me to teach you"

The table laughed the tension from when the letter arrived dissipating. Everyone went back to their breakfasts and conversations on the previous topics resumed. When Hermione got up to leave to head to The Library as usual she turned to face him for the first time since she had waved her wand and he mouthed 'thank you' at her.

Her cheeks pinked again as she mouthed back 'you're welcome'. Definitely pretty Neville decided.

* * *

Neville began to wonder if he should be worried again a week later when he noticed Hermione was driving herself as hard as before, she didn't retreat into herself like the last time but there was a certain...unravelling that had occurred in the last week.

He considered waiting for her in the common room but didn't want to have to wait outside for an age in case no one was there, he headed towards The Library assuming he'd find her among the shelves and was sighing to himself when a tiny hand reached out from the corridor wall and he was dragged behind a tapestry. The tiny hand closed around his mouth and a small voice cast a lumos. He stared as the light revealed Hermione, they seemed to be in a large alcove, there were two small chairs, she moved her hand away and sat down, and he followed.

Her hair was _everywhere_ , he wasn't even sure she had tried to pin it back at all today, her eyes didn't look tired more too alert, darting all over the place. She flicked a quick silencing charm at the tapestry.

"I've done it Neville… I came here to test it, because I didn't want to be seen casting the charm in The Library or the common room but I've done it" she rushed out.

"Done what?"

She reached into her pocket and pulled out two Galleons, she placed one in Neville's hand and he eyed it curiously.

"Put out your other hand" she directed he did and she carefully laid the other coin inside "now grip the coin in your right hand" he did as asked and Hermione raised her wand to tap on the outside of his closed palm, Neville stared at her wondering if she had finally gone completely mad after a couple of seconds the coin in his left hand grew hot.

"What in the name of Merlin?"

"It's like a messenger service, when you want to get back into common room you grip the coin and there is a simple spell I will teach you, I will have the other coin which will grow hot and I will come back to the Tower to let you in… I ideally wanted to be able to send messages across them, then I could have just sent you the passwords... as well that's not _technically_ against the rules as they wouldn't at any point have been _written down_. But...well the magic was a little too advanced for me"

She bit her lip, he couldn't believe she could feel inadequate after what she had done for him.

"Hermione…I...I really appreciate this" he cleared his throat "I'm not sure how I'm ever going to repay you for it"

She laughed "You don't have to I'm sure I owe you a few, besides you managed to talk me down out of the Astronomy Tower already this year how about we say we're even?"

"Even… I think I can live with that"

* * *

 _A/N the first fluttering of romance are beginning now... As I said at the start this is a low burn so do not be surprised if takes a few more chapters before we get anywhere._

 _Thank you as ever to everyone supporting this little fic :)_


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N Thank you to everyone that is reading, reviewing, following and adding to favourites. We are now moving into fourth year._

* * *

 **Year Four Chapter One**

* * *

Neville was in a state of complete and utter rapture listening attentively as Ron and Harry spoke animatedly, providing zealous descriptions of the Quidditch World Cup Final they had attended over the summer. He was sure he had never been so envious of anyone before. He couldn't believe Hermione had gone, she hated Quidditch. His Gran hadn't wanted to go so they never got tickets _it was so unfair_.

Ron showed him his miniature Viktor Krum and Neville was awestruck by the tiny figure, the amazing seats Mr Weasley had obtained, the rows and rows of tents, the mascots, and the spectacle, _everything_ sounded incredible.

Everything accept what had happened after. He had known Hermione was going to be there from her letters over the summer so when Death Eaters had attacked the campsite he had almost sent her a Howler, she hadn't mentioned anything untoward had happened in her last correspondence. When he opened the Daily Prophet to see the spectral image of the Dark Mark blazing in the sky above the campsite he had been livid.

Once he had calmed enough to write to her he decided against a Howler but only because he knew she could incinerate them. The letter he did send could at best be described as incandescent, determined to get his point across he demanded an explanation and sought permission to use his Gran's owl Lyssa who was the worst tempered creature he had ever had the misfortune of meeting. There would be no way the bird would have left without response from Hermione.

In the letter that he received shortly after she had apologized profusely for keeping it from him explaining that she hadn't wanted him to worry and had planned on telling him everything when he saw her next. Over time he calmed down and was now at peace with the whole event, enough to enjoy talking about it again.

Ron was in the middle of his fourth re-enactment of one of Viktor Krum's better moves from the game _without the tiniest complaint from Neville_ when the sound of muffled girlish giggling caught his attention. Turning he noticed Hermione, Ginny and Luna all huddled up together, Ginny was animatedly explaining something in her typical fashion, tiny arms flailing everywhere, and at regular junctures all the girls would laugh.

He had been surprised when they first entered the carriage and Hermione hadn't sat next to him, since the very first year they always sat next to each other on The Express. When the boys had launched into their descriptions of the match he had assumed she had moved away because knowing her she had probably reached her limit with Quidditch talk by now, he doubted she had heard much else of the summer. But Ginny was even more Quidditch mad than he was so what could they possibly be talking about that seemed to require so much diligent attention?

He wasn't sure he had ever heard Hermione giggle like that, when the girls carried on he turned his attention back to Harry and Ron, who had not noticed his distraction. He couldn't help keeping half an ear on the girls though unfortunately he could only pick up bits of what was said, it was mainly Ginny speaking.

"Those Irish players were so so hot… I know he has the _dreamiest smile._..do you think the new DADA might be a woman this year... Luna we got the treat of our lives didn't we Mione?"

He shuffled slightly towards them in order to hear.

"Going for the portkey… out of nowhere… jumped down... right from a tree...can you believe it... he's adorable… very sweet… he chatted to Mione didn't he?"

He turned to look at Hermione, forgetting he was supposed to be pretending he wasn't listening, her cheeks had flushed pink, _his pink... No… not his pink, but well just pink._

"Yes, but only about classes for next year Gin"

"Is he as lovely as everyone says he is?" Luna asked her dreamy voice floating to his end of the compartment.

Desperate to hear the response Neville inched forward till he was in danger of falling off the bench.

"Well yes… actually Cedric was perfectly lovely"

 _Cedric as in Cedric Diggory? As in the Prince Charming of Hufflepuff._ He didn't take Hermione for a girl that would be affected by someone like that, sure he was nice and everything _but really Hermione?_ He didn't think she had ever even liked a boy, like that, apart from a silly crush on Lockhart in second year.

He stood abruptly and moved to sit as far away as possible dropping inelegantly into the seat and crossing his arms in front of himself, he didn't want to hear any more of their conversation.

* * *

Neville's attitude still hadn't improved by the time the train pulled into Hogsmeade Station, he was sure he would be in a foul mood for the rest of the evening ruining one of his favourite nights of the year, The Sorting Feast, which made him even more irritated. Everyone began moving out of the carriage leaving him behind as he was having some issues dislodging his trunk that had got caught on the rack. Channelling some of his frustration he yanked at the handle hard forcing it to fall to the floor of the compartment. When he turned around only Hermione was left, she was struggling to remove her own trunk, hers hadn't got caught, her issue was her size, despite being nearly fifteen she was only a little taller than Ginny and Luna and they were almost a year and a half younger than her.

"Neville" she sighed exasperatedly "could you just...Neville?" she turned abruptly and walked straight into his chest.

He had a bit of a growth spurt over the summer, about four inches in total taking him to just below six foot. He wasn't used to it yet feeling at times like he was trying to learn to walk in someone else's body, incidents of clumsiness had reached a level not seen since first year but it seemed his Uncle Algie had been right, the men in the Longbottom family definitely did even out. He couldn't have been called chubby anymore though he maintained some fleshier areas, especially in his cheeks.

"Hermione are you ok?" he stared down at her.

"Err... yes...yes...I'm fine, I just wasn't expecting… you've got so...so very tall"

Neville smiled "Yeah, grown a bit over the summer… let me help you"

He pulled down her trunk with relative ease and watched as she dove on top of it before opening the clasps and riffling through the contents.

"Come on Hermione we'll miss the carriages"

"Wait a second… there" she triumphantly held a small bag aloft and then handed it to Neville "I knew you were disappointed you couldn't come so I got you a souvenir"

He gently opened the bag, inside was a programme from the match and an Ireland scarf, he beamed at her.

"Thank you Hermione, you really didn't have to"

"I know, I just thought… well I don't know… I missed you… it would have been nice if you had been there" she finished resolutely staring at the floor.

Neville felt himself brighten for the first time in hours, he wasn't sure if he liked flustered Hermione more than pink Hermione but as long as he was the cause he would take either. He could now spend his evening more agreeably trying to decide his favourite version after he had steered her to sit facing away from the Hufflepuff table.

* * *

The group of Gryffindor's plus Luna attempted to find the best possible spot outside the front entrance to await the arrival of the other schools competing in the TriWizard Tournament.

Neville was hugely excited and gasped along with the rest of those present when an enormous glittering coach and horses landed outside the castle. The Headmistress of the Beauxbatons Academy, Madam Maxine got out first _that woman was definitely a giant_ , she completely dwarfed Dumbledore. The Students that got out afterwards were all impeccably dressed to a level that made Neville instantly feel scruffy, though the lack of coats was a definite oversight. As they moved closer he noticed that the girls in their party were all completely beautiful and he was aware that most of the boys in the older years suddenly straightened themselves up, himself included, before the blue clad students moved past the assembled masses into The Great Hall.

"Just what we need more competition" Ginny grumbled.

"I don't really think anyone is much competition for you Ginny" Hermione soothed kindly hugging the girl towards her.

The group turned as the Black Lake began to bubble and churn until suddenly a ship appeared in the middle of it, a huge ship. Well he had no reference for the relative size of a sea bound vessel but that had to be a big one.

In the distance they could see students disembarking all dressed in furs looking pretty severe none more so than their Headmaster. His latest letter from his Gran had warned him to stay away from Igor Karkaroff and one look at the man in question assured him that he would have no issue complying with her wish.

As the figures got closer Ron started to jump up and down "Look, look, it's KRUM, Viktor bloody KRUM!"

Neville stood up on his tiptoes putting his hands automatically on Hermione's shoulders for support as he leant round the other students to see. He heard her tsk slightly but he just squeezed her tighter until she laughed at his antics.

The boys watched on in awe as the Durmstrang students walked past, the whispers regarding Krum had reached fever pitch. The much loved Quidditch star reached their place in the crowds as Hermione had begun chastising Ron who had been beside himself with excitement and babbling nonsense for the last two minutes.

"He's just a person Ron, like everyone else"

Neville wasn't sure whether Krum had heard her or if it was something else but as he walked past, a face that Neville had only ever seen set in a grim line broke into a tiny smile and it was directed at Hermione. His hands on her shoulders tightened unconsciously.

"Neville, ow!"

"Sorry, sorry" he replied letting go quickly resulting in her stumbling forward in an attempt to avoid one of their usual comedy routines he stepped forward to catch her and pulled her into his body, immediately flushing to his roots as he realised what he had done. Not wanting to acknowledge the close contact he simply stood back from her, slower this time and pulled her through the chattering students to get back inside the warmth of the castle.

"What did you think...of you know the Durmstrang...err...boys"

Hermione looked a little perplexed by the question "well they seemed more appropriately dressed than our French guests" she answered finally "Neville do you have time before classes tomorrow to go back over the next Potions chapter with me? I know you hate doing it but I always feel better when I have covered it off with someone else before going to the lesson"

Neville wasn't fooled, he knew her too well. She always found a way of covering off any Potions work with him in advance it was her way of helping. Assuring herself that Snape would have nothing to pick on him over.

"Yes of course, we can do it at breakfast if you like?"

"Great thank you"

"You're welcome" he replied.

Everything was going to be fine.


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N Sorry for the delay in updating this story, I have not had as much writing time as I would like in the last week. There should be another Chapter later this week though so I hope that makes up for it._

 _Now we are continuing fourth year._

 _Thank you to everyone that is supporting this story._

* * *

 **Year Four Chapter Two**

* * *

Another year another new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. In his first letter to his Gran that year Neville sent the news that the famed Auror; Alastor Moody had come to be a Professor and Hogwarts. The response he received was not totally favourable, although she affirmed that he had once been a great Auror _'often commenting on the aptitude of your father Neville_ ' she went on to express that in recent years Moody had suffered something on a decline.

Information shared by the twins was somewhat more condemning, apparently he was known as "Mad-Eye" Neville wasn't sure if this nickname was one shared with him or not and as such made the decision not to try it.

Soon enough the day of their first lesson rolled around, Neville thought he would reserve judgement until he had some interaction with the man himself, after all he wouldn't like to know what people said about him outside his hearing. They filtered into the class while Professor Moody was writing on the board. Moving to sit in his usual place, on a bench next to Harry in front of Hermione and Ron.

Moody had an odd appearance, he seemed twitchy and paranoid. Leaving no time for pleasantries the Professor announced that his first lesson was be on The Unforgivables, the class went silent and Neville sucked in a deep breath. The Professor asked for the names of the curses and someone, though Neville couldn't have said who in his current state said Imperious. He mechanically raised his hand.

"Yes you" Moody pointed at him.

"Cruciatus Curse, Sir" he answered, his voice wavering, Moody regarded him and Neville was hyper aware of the magical eye darting around.

"What's your name boy?" He asked not unkindly

"Longbottom Sir, Neville" Moody merely nodded and moved on. Neville retreated inside himself. He would rather have been just about anywhere than in the classroom at that moment. He could feel Hermione's eyes boring into the back of his skull; he knew she would have picked up on his mood. He resolutely kept his face forward and attempted to keep his eyes impassive.

That was until their Professor produced a spider at the front of the class for a _demonstration_. His eyes fixed unwillingly on the creature as Moody enlarged it before placing it under the dark curse. The spider twitched and writhed and Neville gripped the desk in front of him _hard_ in an attempt to keep from calling out or throwing up.

He could vaguely hear other noises in the classroom around him but he felt distant from it, almost like he was underwater. Then suddenly it all stopped. He released the desk slowly and turned to see Hermione standing out from behind her desk, her face red and her eyes like fire.

Moody swiftly ended the lesson there but asked for Neville to wait behind. He noticed Hermione standing firm waiting for him, he was grateful but he didn't feel like he could face her right then.

"Go on Hermione, I'll be fine"

"You sure?" she asked, assessing his face, clearly not believing him. He was certain he wouldn't be able to school his features or say anything that would convince her, he just hoped she would understand. They locked eyes " _Please_ Hermione, I'm fine"

She hesitated for a second, clearly debating whether or not to attempt a protest again then thought better of it.

"I'll see you at dinner?"

"Yes" he managed and she left, albeit reluctantly.

"Well now" his Professor began "Let's you and me have a cup of tea"

Moody moved to the back of the room and opened a door that led to his private office; he summoned a tea set with his wand and gestured for him to sit down.

Neville had been concerned that the Professor would want to talk about what had happened but he didn't. Instead he told him that Professor Sprout had been talking in the staff room about his talent with plants and he had a book that he thought Neville would enjoy _Magical Water Plants of the Mediterranean_.

* * *

Neville left the office half an hour later feeling slightly improved but now very confused. The first thing that had entered his mind when he saw the book was showing it to Hermione, she always encouraged his extra studying in Herbology and while not expressly interested in the subject like he was she was keen on plants from warmer climes, though he sometimes suspected that she had made that up just to encourage him.

Thinking of Hermione made him wonder whether he should tell her. About his parents, about everything. He wasn't sure. It wasn't like he didn't trust her, she kept everyone's secrets but he didn't want her pity, he would not have been able to bare it if she felt sorry for him. On the other hand he knew her well enough to know she would take it personally if she found out and he hadn't told her.

He would hate that, she was so very important to him, his first friend, and his closest friend and maybe… well he thought he felt something more.

His was still brain swirling back and forth when he entered The Great Hall, he moved towards Hermione, when she noticed him she scrambled to remove a jumper and bag from next to her on the bench.

"Saved you a seat" she smiled.

Neville slid in and began piling his plate absentmindedly.

"Neville, are you alright?" she whispered

He noticed other eyes on the table falling on him "I'm...yes...I'm fine"

She smiled and went back to her own plate and he was grateful that she hadn't pushed the issues in front of an audience, it made his decision. He played with the food on his plate not really eating anything at all, when he was sure that most of the other diners had returned to their food he whispered to Hermione.

"Can we speak later?"

"Yes, of course" she answered out of the side of her mouth.

"Err; it needs to be...well… not the common room?"

"What about the back of the library? Where the wingback chairs are, no one ever goes there. We could meet there an hour after dinner"

"Yes ok"

* * *

At eight Neville was transcending the quiet corridor in front on the library, he made it in not even getting a raised eyebrow from Madam Pince, and made his way to the very back of the library. Along part of the back wall there were small alcoves that each had two or three large chairs in them. Walking along he spotted Hermione in the very back corner, sitting in a chair that looked as if it was made for someone twice her size, pouring over an Ancient Runes text.

He dropped heavily into the chair next to her and put up some silencing spells, the action caught her attention and she sat up a little straighter, closing the tome within her grasp and dropping it onto the low table in front of her.

"Is everything alright?"

"No… well yes...its fine but I need to, _want_ to tell you about something err but...this isn't easy for me to speak about so could you not ask questions or anything?"

She nodded, he felt his throat go dry, and he had never really spoken to anyone about this. He wasn't embarrassed by his situation far from it, he was very proud of his parents he just had no idea where to start.

He found a spot on the wall where the paint was peeling slightly, he fixed his gaze at that position rationalising that it would be easier to talk without looking directly at her.

"I know I don't really talk about my parents very much… I suppose with me being raised by my Gran everyone assumes… well I suppose they assume they are dead" he paused to swallow roughly "But that's not fair on them because they're not dead there in St Mungo's"

He chanced a look at her, she didn't look pitying or horrified that he had kept it from her, her little face was warm, open and encouraging.

He continued "During the first war… they got well... They were aurors you see and they were tortured by the Lestranges" he felt ashamed of the tears that began to prick his eyes, he stopped for a moment to gain some composure.

Hermione stood and his eyes went to her as she flicked her wand at the high backed chair he was sitting on whispering an incantation that transfigured it until it was big enough for two people to sit in, snuggly. She curled in next to him and grasped his hand. He let himself sink into her familiar comfort for a while, gaining strength from her presence and unwavering support.

"They took a few successive bouts of the Cruciatus Curse… their doctors say it addled their minds, they need constant care now. They tell us they don't understand the world around them anymore, don't recognise people are unresponsive to stimulus but…" his voice dropped to barely above a whisper "I know they _know me_ "

His hand that was not still ensconced in Hermione's grasp came up to wipe at his eyes roughly "does that sound stupid?" he asked hesitantly.

"Of course not" Hermione breathed, her voice sounded thick. When he regarded her face he could see water forming at the corner of her eyes "thank you for telling me" she said softly.

"Thank you for listening"

Before he could recompose himself Hermione leapt forward, her arms outstretched pulling him into a tight hug. After a moment's surprise he melted into her safe embrace giving into the urge to pull her tighter, ever so slightly and smell her wonderful hair.

"I'm sure they know you Neville, you would he a hard person to forget"

He held her to him a while longer eager to just be near her before they eventually broke apart.

"Would you take me one day? I'd really like to meet them"

He smiled a watery smile "I think they'd really like to meet you too"


	12. Chapter 12

_A/N thank you to everyone that has reviewed, FFN reviews are down at the moment so I cannot respond to them but I still receive them on email. Will get back to everyone when the problem is sorted… hopefully soon._

 _Thank you as ever for your support._

* * *

 **Year Four Chapter Three**

* * *

Despite it now being two weeks since Harry's name was drawn from The Goblet of Fire the atmosphere in the castle had not improved, especially in Gryffindor Tower, life in the common room and boy's dorm had been particularly difficult when it became apparent that no one believed Harry's protests of innocence, even Ron.

Hermione was currently being treated a like a rag doll that they both wanted to play with, he could see her frustration. She never took sides, not like they did when they fell out with her and it was obviously causing her additionally stress. Neville helped out where he could, firstly by making sure both she and Harry knew that he didn't believe that Harry had put his name in The Goblet, for one Harry wasn't good enough at that kind of magic and for another he was rash and impulsive but he wasn't a total idiot.

Continuing efforts to keep the peace between the feuding boys, he had switched seats with Ron that morning in Transfiguration so he was now sat with Harry when Professor McGonagall announced to the room that in keeping with the traditions of the TriWizard Tournament there would be a Yule Ball where they could ask a fellow student to attend with them and that dance lessons would be a requirement. All the boys in the room groaned, Neville included, he wasn't particularly coordinated when he was stationary let alone when he was expected to twirl around the dance floor. He did know how to dance however, all part of the pureblood scion training, though he had never really had much call to put the lessons into practise.

As much as dancing in front of his peers might be something he was not looking forward to, a much more pressing concern came to the forefront of his mind, who was he going to ask? Unwittingly his gaze fell on the wayward brown curls in front of him. He paled slightly at a thought.

XXXXXX

Following news of the upcoming Yule Ball filtering through the castle the atmosphere fluxed again, no one seemed to care about Harry anymore in fact Ron had made it up to him following the completion of the ridiculous second task, now all the boys in his dorm were more concerned with who they were going to ask. Well that wasn't strictly true Neville knew who he wanted to ask and he was pretty sure so did Harry had picked his target as well if his constant gaze towards the Ravenclaw table was any indication.

The only issue he had now was actually asking, he had listened attentively for the first few minutes of that evening's chat expectantly waiting for Ron to mention that he wanted to ask Hermione but the redhead never did. Once conversation turned to the likelihood of getting one of the Beauxbatons girls to go with them he shut the rest of the conversation out to focus on his own strategy.

Neville spent days planning how he was going to do it, the hardest thing at this point seemed to be getting her alone. Well that had been the hardest thing, all this time spent watching her brought another potential issue to light.

He wasn't the only one watching.

Viktor Krum had seemingly taken an interest in Hermione. When they were sat studying by The Black Lake he went past jogging and he stopped briefly to look at her, when he had gone to join her for early breakfast in The Great Hall he could feel dark eyes watching and then when he went to the library, where he was meeting her to discuss Potions homework Krum was there _again_ sat on the end of her table, asking her questions about herself while a large table of giggling girls sat on a nearby table watching his every move.

He knew he needed to act soon, the Bulgarian was obviously intending to ask her.

 _How could he compete with a world famous Quidditch star and TriWizard Champion?_

* * *

The next day Neville shook for most of the morning, _it had to be today_. He couldn't wait any longer, though he would honestly rather ask Snape for remedial Potions lesson than do this. The one thing forcing his arm was last night when he had tried to sleep his was constantly plagued with the image of Hermione being spun around The Great Hall by Krum, he felt his heart clench when dream Hermione's face broke out into a pretty blush as Viktor leaned in towards her face and… STOP! There was nothing else for it.

Before lunch they had Herbology and Neville knew this was the best chance he had. This is where he felt most confident. When Professor Sprout called the end of the lesson he packed up his staff in double time and moved to stand at the end of Hermione's bench, she was furiously washing the soil off her tiny hands and turned when she noticed his presence and beamed at him.

"Hi Neville, thanks for waiting, have the others gone on to lunch?"

Neville looked around the room becoming aware it was now completely empty bar the two of them, he assumed they must have all gone to lunch, he hadn't noticed them leave he had been too focused on her to notice.

"Err… yeah, I was wondering if you had… five minutes...to...talk with me?"

Hermione dried her hands and moved back towards him "Yes, of course, is everything ok?"

"Yes" he answered quickly and winced at how high his voice sounded.

She folded her things into her satchel and then faced him expectantly. He felt his cheeks flush and he shuffled his feet, _don't just stand there like an idiot say something!_

"So Erm… the Yule" he coughed to clear his throat "The Yule Ball"

Hermione nodded "Yes, what about it?"

"Did you...ah...would you…?"

"Neville, are you ok?"

"FINE" he shouted louder than intended and she jumped back, he put his arm on her shoulder to steady her and to apologies and she flushed.

Her little pink cheeks gave him a tiny fleck of hope, enough to force his words out "Hermione, will you go to the ball with me?"

Her blush deepened and he would have smiled at how pretty she looked if he wasn't positive he was about to be sick.

"Are you sure you want to go with me?" she asked in a tiny voice.

"Yes!" he answered again, willing her to give the same answer

She looked up at him, a shy smile tugging at her lips "yes Neville that would be nice...err really nice"

Neville beamed and his chest felt lighter than it had in days but then a dark thought crossed his mind when thinking of their last private conversation and he blurted out

"It's not because you feel sorry for me is it?" her large eyes shot up to his and she stepped forward to close the gap between them reaching for his hand.

"No, never… I… I don't pity you Neville if that's what you think"

"Err, sorry I...not sure why I asked that" he knew it was stupid but he couldn't help feeling a tiny bit relieved.

"That's ok...Lunch?"

"Yes, let's go" Hermione let go of his hand to snatch up her bag and he immediately missed her warmth.

* * *

Only days later Neville was forced to admit the depth of his feelings for Hermione at least to himself. After a particularly boring detention with Snape he was headed towards the library. Despite the morning cleaning equipment he was actually rather smug, in retaliation for their Professor's uncalled for comment about Hermione's teeth himself and Seamus had both purposely blown up their caldrons for once.

On pushing through the heavy doors he saw his curly-haired friend with Victor Krum sitting very close to her discussing something in hushed tones a tell-tale blush on her cheeks, without thinking he immediately began walking the other way back to the common room his heart was racing.

What if he was asking her to the ball? Ah, there was no 'if' about it he had seen him following her around that was definitely what was happening

Although he had asked her to the ball he hadn't specified that he liked her as anything more than a friend, he knew he did he was just scared to say anything… yet. He had however stopped himself from asking if she would come _just as friends_ and he has taken that has a small victory or at least he was pleased that he hadn't taken the coward's way out.

Surely she wouldn't accept Victor, _would she?_

* * *

He sank into an armchair and stewed for the best part of an hour before Hermione walked through the portrait hole. She immediately came to fall into the chair beside him.

"Hi Neville, what happened earlier? I thought we were supposed to meet in the Library"

"I came but you were busy… with Viktor" he wished his voice had sounded less petulant

"You should have come over"

"I didn't want to interrupt"

"Don't be silly he was barely there five minutes then he left again"

"Enough time to ask you to the ball?"

Her eyes fell to the floor giving him all the answer he needed, he went to stand but she pushed her hand down on his arm.

"He did Neville but I said I was already going with someone"

"You did?"

"I did"

"I wouldn't mind you know Hermione" he said lying through his teeth "he's a big star and he want…"

She interrupted him her face like stone "Neville Longbottom how could you think I would care about something so trivial something so..."

Recognising the danger he was in he attempted to throw her off course "Hermione… HERMIONE" She stopped to look at him her eyes narrowed "I'm sorry, I just thought you might, well...want to change your mind when someone better asked"

Her eyes softened "Well… I haven't… I've never…. actually met someone better … so that's not… really…. Very possible"

Neville would have beamed till his face split open if he could get his brain to stop short circuiting

 _Take that Viktor bloody Krum._

* * *

 _A/N next time… The Yule Ball_


	13. Chapter 13

A/N thank you for all of your lovely feedback on the last chapter, slightly longer post as its Yule Ball time. Reviews are not working (again) I can still see them but may not be able to respond for a couple of days.

* * *

 **Year Four Chapter Four**

* * *

Neville had ambled around the castle in a state of euphoric disbelief for weeks after he had finally summoned the courage to ask Hermione to go to the ball with him. He found himself searching her out whenever they were in the same room, his world became one of secret shy smiles and suddenly awkward conversation and he loved every moment of it.

It was a while later before his bubble of happiness was pricked slightly. Hermione approached him in the common room looking a little bashful and asked if they could go for a walk, quickly agreeing he followed her out of the castle doors and into the cold winter air.

"Err... so Viktor came and spoke to me today, while I was in the library" Neville grit his teeth slightly but didn't say anything, he had handled talk of Viktor badly the last time he wouldn't doubt her again "He's asked someone else to the ball, one of the Beauxbatons girls"

Neville huffed out a breath "what did he want to talk about?"

"Something about saving a dance for him? Not sure why he couldn't have just asked on the night"

Neville sagged, it wasn't as bad as he had feared, "It's a pureblood custom, an old one, from when there were a lot more balls and that's where young people me, all the girls had dance cards that people would request spots on before the event"

"Oh… that's… antiquated"

"Maybe, but it's tradition"

"You aren't like that though and you're a pureblood"

"Yes but I still learnt all the ways, we all do... I think maybe… maybe if I hadn't asked…. in time... and you were already going with someone else I might have done the same thing"

"Oh" she smiled at him "I'm sure you would have made it sound a lot less stuffy"

"Maybe, but I might have tripped over my feet and knocked you over before getting a word out"

She laughed "come on let's go back inside it's freezing out here"

* * *

A week or so later Neville stumbled into the common room, his joints not responding properly after being outside for the last two hours freezing to death while he assisted Professor Sprout in the greenhouses. The atmosphere in the room was still, at its centre Ron and Hermione were standing off against each other. They were both rigid, Hermione looked seconds away from completely losing her mind but there were no wands drawn… yet.

He sidled over to Harry who was lurking off to one side regarding his friends with trepidation; neither of the warring pair had taken any notice of Neville entering the room, too fixed on sending death glares to each other.

"What's going on? "He questioned in hushed tones.

"I think Ron just tried to ask Hermione to the ball, either that or he's trying to commit suicide via the end of her wand"

"You think... I don't follow"

"He was panicking about not having a date when Hermione walked in…" Harry dropped his head to his hands massaging his temples "He began with 'Hermione you're a girl, you could go with one of us' she didn't take it too well"

Neville winced "I would imagine not"

"It gets worse"

"How?" Neville lifted a brow incredulously, how could Ron have made that worse?

"She said she couldn't go with either of us as she had a date and he... well he scoffed"

Neville's hands gripped into fists as the noise from the other two began escalating, their voices filling the space.

"...if you're not going to tell me who it means no one asked…"

"... I don't have to tell you who asked me..,"

"Why are you lying Hermione? Just go with me otherwise you're going to be on your own, it's fine for boys but for girls... You'll just look stupid"

He heard Harry sigh dramatically before he stepped forward, he did not normally intervene, Hermione could look after herself but there was a reason she wasn't saying anything. He suspected it was the same reason she had been surprised to be asked, he wanted to speak up just in case she was worried that he wouldn't want people knowing, which was ridiculous. He had already owl' d everyone in his immediately family and had been half tempted to place an ad in The Daily Prophet. He hadn't told anyone because he thought she might not want people to know she was going with him.

"Ron" he stated firmly, both Hermione and Ron jumped a little at the intrusion, noticing his presence for the first time "Hermione cannot go to the ball with you she is going with me"

"With you?" Ron spat

"With me" he answered firmly lifting his chin.

"But why…"

"Ron whatever you are going to say isn't going to help, I asked Hermione almost as soon as we heard about it" he looked up to face Hermione who had gone completely still and was watching him, he waited till her eyes locked with his till he continued "she was my first choice"

The declaration was met with stunned silence till it was broken by Seamus' deep Irish brogue calling; in what he probably thought was a whisper "Jesus life is going to be a nightmare in the fecking dorm room now"

* * *

Somehow despite Neville feeling like it would never, ever arrive the day of the Yule Ball dawned. He hadn't seen Hermione for hours not since she had been frog marched from lunch back to the common room by Ginny, who was completely jubilant as Harry had asked her to accompany him. When Hermione had comments on how happy the red head she seemed Ginny had said it was because she wouldn't have been able to go otherwise. Neville and Hermione had looked at each other with raised eyebrows, a knowing glance shared between them, he was pretty sure it was the person that had asked her she was most pleased about but he wouldn't tease, he was in much the same boat himself.

He had never really got much further than picturing himself dancing with Hermione, despite his constant pestering she hadn't told him anything about what she was wearing. He had owl'd his Gran to ask what he should give her, Augusta had responded at some length clearly pleased to have been consulted. She had instructed that a white corsage would be best as he didn't know what colour would match. He thought he detected a hint of approval at Hermione's evasiveness in the missive. She had also suggested that maybe a small more substantial gift would be appropriate if he was 'interested in pursuing a courtship with Miss Granger' he had stared at the words for a long time without really knowing what to say.

He couldn't deny it anymore he definitely was interested, he considered that if by some miracle she was interested in return he would have so much to explain to her, she wouldn't know about half of the customs purebloods had for this sort of thing and while he, as she had rightly pointed out, was nowhere near as observant of such things as some families, there were something's that had been ingrained.

He had never had any desire to date casually, in the wizarding world people met and married young and while he didn't have designs that way it was very much a yet he couldn't ever imagine meeting anyone who would match up to her in his eyes.

He had decided against a traditional gift in the end, he wanted to hold off, when he gave a gift of the sort he would be declaring his intentions properly.

After getting ready in a fraction of the time that it was evidently going to take the girls the boys filed downstairs to wait for them.

They were all lost to ribbing Ron about his ancient dress robes when he suddenly got elbowed pretty hard in the ribs by Dean Thomas, he turned to glare at his dormmate but Dean was staring agog in the direction of the stairs. He followed his gaze to see Hermione, Ginny and Luna descending, he barely noticed the other girls his entire focus was on the tiny, delicate creature in the soft blue gown.

When she made it to the bottom of the stairs it took him a couple of seconds and a shove from Seamus before he walked forward to take her arm, fumbling even more than usual he proffered the corsage he had put together himself.

He could hear the murmuring around them as they walked side by side into the hall, caught the envious looks of the boys and the raised brows of almost everyone, there were quite a few that didn't even seem to recognise her. He stifled a smirk as they walked past a cluster of Slytherins to hear Malfoy's surprised squeak "Is that... Merlin that's Granger".

Once they had found their seats they moved to the table they had been given and stood to await the arrival of the champions. A very nervous looking Harry was preceded by a grim Viktor Krum who could not seem to raise a smile despite the obvious rapture of the girl next to him. When the champions made it to the head table he watched Krum's eyes scan the room with purpose until he spotted Hermione, he saw the stoic boy's face morph into a soft expression at the sight of her and Neville turned his head slightly to observe her reaction, only to discover she had none as she was seemingly fully occupied in mouthing words of encouragement and last minute dance tips to Harry. When he turned back to face the head table again he saw the Bulgarian was assessing him. Neville resolutely stared back, he got the impression Krum didn't think much of his competition, at least for Hermione. He was after all three years older and an international sporting hero however he was the one with the witch on his arm so he refused to be intimidated, much.

After sitting at the tables he saw Hermione looking baffled at the menu's they had in front of them, he leant over to whisper in her ear "You say what you want out loud and then it appears"

She jumped at his proximity "Oh... thank you"

After the food had appeared they began chatting together the noise in the room preventing much conversation with anyone else on their table. They both observed that their evening was nowhere near as awkward as some of those around them. Ron in particular was having a bad night, though possibly not as bad as Parvati who looked bored to tears sat next to him. He clocked the ginger scowling at Hermione several times and was relieved she hadn't noticed. He might be his friend but there was no way he would let Ron ruin this night for him.

They moved to the dancefloor after the Champions had danced the first song, Harry getting through it with Ginny's gentle encouragement. He led Hermione to the floor conscious that he was already trying to catalogue moments of the evening that he could go back and think about once it was all over.

They danced in silence for a while until they both relaxed into it a bit, their nerves at the unfamiliar activity seemed to thaw and he only stepped on her feet twice.

Once he was sure they were far away enough from anyone that could hear him he started a conversation he had wanted to have with her all night.

Leaning in slightly he stumbled out "I… I wanted to say… you look, well you look beautiful Hermione… not that you don't always you… well you know"

Hermione was pinker than he had ever seen her and she averted her eyes slightly seemingly to get her back to a normal colour

"I miss your hair though" he blurted

"My hair... really?!" she asked completely bewildered

"Yeah" he affirmed smiling at her disbelief "I mean it's mental but it's just one of those things those... Hermione things that makes you... you"

"Hermione things?" she asked softly

He nodded "Like how your hair gets bigger when you're stressed or angry and when it's exam time you don't even bother trying to tie it back anymore, or how no matter how hard and often you wash your hands they're always covered in ink. Or when someone is giving the wrong answer you nearly bite through your lip to stop yourself correcting them, those kinds of things"

"I had no idea anyone noticed those kinds of things" she said her eyes widening

Neville could feel heat rise up his neck "I notice… I notice well everything"

Their happy moment was interrupted when Krum hulked over to claim his dance with Hermione butchering her name totally in the process.

Neville moved to the side of the dance floor and sat next to an animated Harry and Ginny who had just come of the dance floor themselves. He watched, as subtly as he could manage as Krum twirled her about the floor. He didn't like it, at all.

He was beginning to feel a little bleak until he heard Ginny whisper to Harry "It doesn't look like she's enjoying it very much"

He looked again, harder this time not caring if she saw, he noticed she was slightly more rigid than she had been with him and her smile looked a little brittle. The dance finally ended and he flinched as Krum held onto Hermione's arm dropping his face to whisper in her ear, after the two longest seconds of Neville's life he saw her smile apologetically and shake her head as she gave a brief answer to what was obviously a request to more of her time. As she moved away from the Durmstrang Champion he saw her lift onto the balls of her feet to see above the crowd and he immediately stood his face splitting into a grin as she spotted him and made her way straight over.

"Would you like a drink?"

"Yes please"

He left her sitting with Harry and Ginny all smiling and chatting happily, when he came back the atmosphere was very different and Ron was once again shouting.

"Oh you come over now do you…. Thank you for gracing us with your presence Hermione… Haven't seen you all evening"

"Ron I've been dancing"

"Yeah I saw with Viktor really Hermione, he's Harry's competition... the enemy"

When she looked like she would bolt, her standard reaction to stressful situations she couldn't handle he took a deep breath and put his hand on her arm gaining her attention.

"Hermione I brought you a drink... Punch okay? I made sure it wasn't from the bowl the twins spiked"

"Seriously Neville, we were talking" Ron spat before launching back at her "What were you thinking Hermione?"

"I'm pretty sure you were yelling" he levelled at Ron, the taller boy squared his shoulders, Neville had felt animosity pouring off him for weeks since Ron had learnt he was taking Hermione to the ball, well tough. If he had wanted her to go with him he should asked.

"Whatever Neville" Ron moved to push him to the side so he could continue speaking to Hermione.

Neville moved more in front of her in response "As for Harry's competition you have only been on Harry's side for about a month so I think it's perfectly fine for Hermione to dance with Viktor once, the whole point of this was to make friends with other schools" he defended not wanting to highlight the fact he'd rather she didn't dance with him either.

Hermione drank her drink down in one gulp "Neville I think I might..."

He turned to face her blocking out Ron, he wasn't ready for it to end yet "...come on Hermione one more dance?"

"..Oh I'm quite tired..." she mumbled not meeting his eyes

He dropped down to meet her face "I insist" he said smiling and dragged her to the dance floor before she could protest further. A song later and the light sniffles that he had dutifully been ignoring subsided a slower song began. Suddenly aware of the slower pace they stilled momentarily before she awkwardly moved her arms around his neck.

"Ignore him Hermione, he's just having a bad night and wants everyone else to have a crap time because he is"

She laughed and rested her head on his shoulder; he was worried she would hear his heart threatening to beat right out of his chest.

"I know you said you were tired but you can't fall asleep on me" he jested, yes you can his traitorous brain whispered.

After he watched her stifle a couple of yawns they agreed to leave and started the walk back to the common room along with all of the other returning couples.

When they got into Gryffindor Tower he stood fidgeting not really knowing what to do next, he had a night better than he could ever imagine and his best friend was turning into so much more in his eyes, he didn't want to push things too far and risk losing her.

Before he could articulate anything Hermione rushed forward her hands wrapped around his neck. He falteringly looped his arms around her waist mirroring the position they had assumed while there were dancing.

"I had a wonderful night Neville, thank you for asking me" she said

"Thank you for saying yes"

Once they broke apart she looked as awkward as he felt and after switching from one foot to the other she rattled off "Well, Goodnight then" and all but sprinted off in the direction of the girls dorms.

* * *

An hour later he was still sat in front of the fire unwilling to go to sleep yet, when an incredibly enthusiastic Colin Creevy practically fell through the portrait hole.

"Colin? What are you doing up?"

"I was given permission; by Professor McGonagall to photograph the event... it was so much fun, I took so many pictures..., I even had my picture taken with Viktor Krum, did you see him dance with Hermione? I thought she looked pretty... Would you like to see the photos... you're in a few?"

Neville took a few seconds to comprehend all that the younger student had said and nodded. Colin immediately began rifling through the stack in front of him passing over a smaller wedge.

Neville flicked happily through the photos until he came to the last one.

It was their last dance, Hermione had her hands around his neck and her head pillowed on his shoulder, her eyes closed small smile on her face. At the beginning of the rotation he would lean down and whisper to her and her face would split into a wide smile as she laughed all while they twirled softly on the spot.

After watching the motion more than ten times he tore his eyes away "Do you mind if I take this one Colin?"

Only to find Colin sparked out on the sofa in front of the fire. He smiled to himself and summoned a blanket to put over him before pocketing the picture and heading up the stairs to bed to sleep.


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N thank you for all your lovely words about the Yule Ball Chapter, that was my favourite so far! It's now the end of the fourth year and time for a little window into summer break._

* * *

 **Year Four Chapter Five**

* * *

After the ball the rest of the year swept away quickly, Hermione was busier than ever attempting to keep Harry alive seemed to be a full time job for her, especially when he seemed so determined to make it difficult. Neville didn't mind that was the kind of person Hermione was and she had made Harry a priority a long time ago.

He could only hope in time that he would become the same.

He tried to keep the same feeling of calm indifference to his situation as he watched the unbroken surface of the water, glancing once again at the large illuminated countdown clock hovering above the bank. _Where were they?_ Cedric had already got back with a besotted Cho and Krum had brought back his friend from Durmstrang. Neville glared at the lake's surface as if he would somehow be able to see through to its depths if he looked _hard_ enough.

His Gran often criticised Dumbledore and his methods and Neville had always tuned her out, even Hermione had questioned his actions from time to time but nothing had ever swayed his steadfast belief in the Headmaster until now.

Anger at Dumbledore pushed back the feeling of dread that crept into his mind the moment he had heard that Hermione was somehow the _thing_ Harry would miss most. He took his place next to Ron and Ginny on the newly erected grandstand and watched the water. None of them spoke to the other, he would have been hard pressed to assess which of the assembled was the most put out by that news.

On top of his uncertainty he had to contend with the growing fear that she might be drowning, Professor McGonagall had assured him Hermione would be perfectly safe but this was from a Professor who calmly sat in the stands while Harry battled a dragon as part of the first task so her words were at best a hollow comfort.

After the forty-five minute mark passed Ron got up and mumbled something about needing to go for a walk, Neville empathised, he felt the need to do something, anything to alleviate the panic but he daren't move away.

Ginny whispered "Do you think…"

"No" he interjected firmly "and nor do you not really, they're friends"

"But they said it was _her_ that he would miss most"

"I know" he sighed "but I don't think they're relationship is like that, she sees him as family and she knows how you feel Ginny she would never do something like that without talking to you first"

Ginny nodded "Yes your right... Sorry… I should have thought about Hermione, she wouldn't have acted on feelings for Harry even if she did have them, not without speaking to me at least"

"Does Ron, well you know?"

"Yeah"

Their conversation was disturbed by a bubbling on the surface of the lake followed by a gasping Hermione appearing with Harry and Fleur's little sister and whatever Ron felt was pushed to the back of his mind as he made it down the steps to get to her.

* * *

The year was finally over, Neville was once again sat in a grandstand counting down time, and he couldn't wait for this stupid tournament to be over. Then maybe he would be able to claim some of Hermione's time and attention he was also unlikely to lose sleep over the loss of 'their friends from the North'.

At least he had her next to him this time, he found the task a lot more enjoyable when he wasn't worried about her drowning. Though what he was spectating _on_ he wasn't sure, for the second task in a row he wasn't actually able to _see_ anything apart from the odd spark or two from above the hedge lines.

After a series of red sparks shot into the air Hermione shuffled closer to him, he stretched his hand out to envelop hers, his fingers intertwining with her delicate digits, silently giving support in the way that had become standard for them since they were eleven. He watched her shoulders sag and turned back to focus on watching nothing, silently hoping that the ridiculous hedges would cause no lasting damage to the Quidditch field.

* * *

The atmosphere in the train carriage home was the worst it had ever been, Harry was barely speaking, Hermione looked drawn and nervous and Ron had given up trying to brighten his friend's mood and had fallen back to one of his happiest pursuits from the latter half of this year, glaring at Neville.

His mind was equally engaged in dark thoughts. Voldemort being back was serious, he wondered if he would be a target because of his parents, he worried about Harry also but mostly he worried about Hermione. If anyone was a shining example that everything they stood for was a load of crap it was her.

He also had other thoughts niggling at him. He had seen Viktor approach Hermione at the end of term giving her his address. He had overheard Ginny tell Luna the Seeker had asked her to visit over the summer. He knew that these thoughts were silly in comparison to the rise of the Dark Lord but somehow they left him just as panicked. He doubted Hermione would realise how a visit to him, on her own, would set expectations in purebred circles, serious expectations.

With all in the carriage occupied with their own thoughts the journey to London seemed to take twice as long.

* * *

As they finally pulled into the station and the other occupants stood and made to leave he linked his fingers around Hermione's wrist and asked her to wait. She stepped back to get out of Luna's way and both were silent until the little blonde exited the carriage.

Now on their own Hermione turned and looked at him expectantly

"What are your plans over the summer?" he could have asked her this at any point on their way home but he was worried about his reaction if she said she was going to visit Krum, if she confirmed he was going to want to make a quick exit.

"Not much, maybe a short trip away…. Possibly a week but no longer than that"

Not wanting to push and needing to know in equal measure he pressed her "Oh that's sounds… Nice… Where are you going?"

"Not decided yet but I think my mum is fairly set on Rhodes"

Neville felt his very blood sing with relief, he flexed his hands to stop himself from dragging her to him for what would probably have been a hug close to bone crushing in its intensity.

"Oh, Rhodes… how fantastic" he enthused

"You really like Rhodes I take it?" Hermione answered slightly bemused

"Never been but it sounds like the _perfect_ place to go"

"OK well, I'll be sure to owl you with all the…"

"Visit me?" he blurted

"Sorry"

"Come and visit over the summer, you can bring the boys but come and meet my Gran and I can show you the greenhouses and stuff"

Hermione beamed at him "that would be lovely"

* * *

After exchanging various letters to sort the dates Hermione was due to come to Longbottom House to visit with Ron and Harry for the day. Neville had originally requested his friends stay overnight, keen to spend as much time with guests as possible but his Gran had pitched a fit at the idea of there being a young woman staying overnight unchaperoned. In desperation he had moaned that Hermione stayed at The Burrow all the time, Augusta had raised an eyebrow and muttered something about her having forgotten more about propriety than Molly Prewett had even known and then something in an even lower register where all he caught was ' _young William… seven months after the wedding… thinks we're all daft_ ' and he hadn't asked again.

Irritation aside he was glad he would get to see them at all, unlike most people he knew he dreaded the summer months away from the castle. He knew Harry was the same, he felt bad about that, his situation was nowhere near as bad as Harry's but he still felt isolated. He hated those first few moments on the train at the start of each new school year where all the others would talk about what they did _together_ over the holidays, he always felt so horribly left out.

When the wards alerted them to the trio's arrival he collided with his house elf Tip in his haste to open the door which ended in them both being sprawled across the entry way. Neville managed to right himself as Tip scrambled to answer the door. He hoped that this was not the time Hermione would take him up on the promise to speak to one of his elves judging by the epic scowl the tiny creature was giving him behind her back that conversation was not likely to go well.

* * *

Neville was embarrassed by the formal setting of the dining table at lunch, with his Gran sitting in all state at the head. His Uncle Algie had come over no doubt to meet the famous Harry Potter. He was sure the trio were much more accustomed to less formality and more fun at The Burrow.

It was only last minute that the plan to have Harry there at all had been confirmed, Dumbledore had requested that they not contact Harry but his Gran had taken issue with Neville receiving directives from the Headmaster and had ' _taken Albus to task_ ' clearing the day trip before they would all head to Grimmauld Place. Despite an invite from Harry, Hermione and Molly Neville was not allowed to attend.

Lunch was quiet but he needn't have been worried about Hermione being bored, she seemed to enjoy the more civilized eating arrangements and he watched in disbelief as his Gran hid a very rare smile behind her hand as the curly haired witch hissed at Ron in low tones about his appalling table manners.

That was until his Uncle brought up his end of year results and any smile that might have been on Augusta's face was replaced by a much more familiar pained, disapproving frown.

"I don't know what to do with him Algie, both his parents were brilliant but his grades _still_ leave a lot to be desired and his potions mark was simply abysmal"

Neville was completely mortified and suddenly not very hungry, he was aware of the pitying eyes of Harry and Ron opposite him, both very well aware of the feeling of being put down by an adult, caught up in wishing the ground would open up and swallow him he didn't hear Hermione set down her spoon.

"I believe Mrs Longbottom that Neville's potion marks are much more to do with our Professors dislike of him than anything else".

He looked up in time to see his Gran's head snap to face the young witch in a manner that reminded him far too much of a snake, dread pooled in his stomach and out of the corner of his eye he could see his Uncle unconsciously shift away from his sister.

"Is that the case Miss Granger? It is my _belief_ that only the weak would blame circumstances outside of themselves for their failings"

Obviously thinking that was the end of the matter his Gran resumed eating, the boys at the table however, knowing Hermione a lot better turned to face her awaiting a retort, Neville was torn between wanting her to stop, he had no desire to see his Gran tear into her, but a small part of him was whispering how nice it was that someone jumped to his defence. _She had criticised Snape!_

"That may well be the case but Neville wasn't criticizing outside influences _I was_. In Any case there are many areas of specialisation in magical education and as I'm sure you know Neville excels in Herbology, I for one would much rather have an _innate talent_ in one space than be _average_ across the board"

His Gran delicately placed her napkin over her food and turned her chair to face Hermione squarely "I am given to understand that is not a choice that you will ever have to make _Miss Granger_. While it is to be applauded when a person rises to the top in one field I am more interested in magical ability as to how it matches to potential. If a child was born to excellence and they do not achieve it the missing ingredient must be _effort_ wouldn't you agree?"

Neville felt his blood run cold, he watched Hermione delicately fold her own napkin onto her plate, born to muggles she might have been but she could spar with any pureblood lady worth her salt if she could calmly take on his Gran, he was very aware they were discussing him and he was sure he would feel the stab of his Gran's comments later but they were dulled for the moment, first because he had heard them so many times and second because he was too engaged in watching what was happening between the two women, neither of whom had raised their voices in the slightest and to any casual observer might have been discussing the weather.

"Oh I certainly agree that effort is a large factor in the case of magical ability, I myself am the best example as I have no inherited ability at all" his Gran smiled a Cheshire-cat like smile of victory but it was sort lived as Hermione continued "but in this case I don't believe it's the _most important_ factor, if we take the excelling in Herbology that would suggest a high level of natural talent as it does not involve practised movements of wands or complex potion instructions it is simply the heightened understanding of the complexities surrounding magical plant life. Most of our other classes involve the use of wands, I study with Neville myself _regularly_ and he never displays a difficulties with the intricacies surrounding the texts, in fact, he often understands things much quicker than I do, where things become more difficult is the application"

"I fear you are dancing around a point Miss Granger please do not keep us waiting"

"I have read in numerous studies how hindered magical development can be when a witch or wizard uses a wand that has not been specially selected for them"

Neville gasped in a breath watching his Gran's knuckles turn white from the grip she was pressing on the table "Miss Granger using that wand was the _highest_ honour…"

"I mean no offence" Hermione interjected earnestly her tone softening "I simply meant to suggest that Neville may benefit from being brought _his own_ wand. I understand that the wand holds a high level of sentimental value and as such it might be safer being kept here, I know Neville would be devastated if something happened to it"

The room fell silent and his Gran excused herself shortly after Hermione had finished speaking quickly followed by his Uncle. Neville wouldn't know it yet but he would be going back onto the Hogwarts Express with a new wand.

* * *

After lunch, Ron and Harry had gone off to one of the fields in the back of the property to race their brooms and Neville had taken Hermione on his promised tour of the greenhouses. It had taken twenty minutes for Hermione to stop apologising for her behaviour at lunch.

 _"_ _...I shouldn't have spoken out of turn…"_

 _"_ _... So rude…"_

 _"_ _... I shouldn't have spoken for you…"_

 _"_ _... I'm sorry if I embarrassed you…"_

After walking her around the lead her to a small nook at the back of the largest greenhouse that had a large comfortable chair and some blankets, it was his hidey hole over the summer months, Neville sat down in the chair and pulled Hermione to sit down next to him. It was snug, like the seat they had sat in when he told her about his parents but neither of them seemed to mind.

They chatted about everything and nothing until she asked him about finding out about Barty Crouch Jr being their DADA Professor in disguise. No one had asked him about that, he honestly didn't know how to feel. He hated that man almost more than anyone in the world, with the exception of a few, to find out he'd been having tea with him for a year had stung. As he spoke about the realisation Hermione moved to lay her head on his shoulder and he moved his arm around her to pull her into him further.

He suddenly jumped up dislodging her "I have something for you" he called to her as he darted to the other side of the greenhouse returning and passing her a potted rose cutting "It took a while but I think I've managed to make a magical rose grow in muggle soil... so you can have it when you go home"

Hermione smiled up at him and he noticed she had soil on her cheek he lifted his hand to dust it off and his breath hitched as she leaned ever so slightly into the touch. On instinct he took the pot from her fingers and placed it on a nearby table before dropping his face to meet hers.

A crash outside altered them both to Harry and Ron's arrival and he straightened quickly

"Come on 'Mione time to go" Ron called

Neville chewed over how much he had grown to hate that nickname.

"Coming Ron" she called and she stood grabbing the rose "thank you for this Neville, you'll write to me?"

"Of course" like he would do anything else.

* * *

 _A/N next chapter we start 5th year and for some obvious reasons it will have the most chapters._


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N thank you to everyone reading, reviewing, following and adding to favourites._

 _If you like this story you may like on I posted earlier today, Reflector - Post war Hermione x Percy it's going to be in 3 parts each with 2 chapters. Aiming to post once a week._

* * *

 **Year Five Chapter One**

* * *

Neville had arrived onto the platform at King's Cross earlier than usual. The atmosphere between himself and his Gran was tense, not vibrating with the usual suppressed disappointment this was something else. He got the impression that there was a lot his Gran wanted to say and she just didn't know how to, which was a first. It had been that way since Hermione and the boys had visited. Following their blunt discussion over lunch his Gran hadn't uttered more than three words together for two days and then without warning he was summoned to go back to school shopping and bought a new wand with no additional words or explanation.

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth Neville had kept his mouth firmly shut and had resolved to squeeze the life out of Hermione when he saw her next.

Over the following week the heavy air between them had cleared only to be replaced by more strained dialogue when it became clear that The Daily Prophet and The Ministry were determined to refute Harry and Dumbledore's claims that Voldemort was back.

Augusta Longbottom sat on the Wizengamot for the House of Longbottom, a seat that Neville himself would someday fill. It was a position that she took seriously, when she had come home the day of Harry's full trial Neville had watched on in astonishment as she consumed nearly a bottle of wine to herself, not accustomed to seeing her drink more than the odd glass of brandy on special occasions.

Having not known what to say to break the silence that had fallen between them he had gone to leave the room only to have her raise her arm to halt his progress.

"It's starting again Neville" she locked eyes at him, her orbs filled with more emotion than he had ever seen from her "stay safe and when you don't know how to do that ask Miss Granger she seems the only one of you to have a healthy sense of self-preservation"

He nodded and was then dismissed his head full of questions. The next day it was as if it had never happened. His Gran was back to normal apart from the spattering of weird silences she would fall into every now and again. He would catch her looking at him, her expression almost pained.

He was happily distracted by a tugging on his arm, he turned to see Hermione beaming up at him a little nervously.

"Err Neville, I wanted you to meet my parents, is that ok?"

He looked over his shoulder to see two adults in muggle clothing who he presumed must be Hermione's parents "Of course" he answered and she gestured them over.

"Mum, Dad this is Neville Longbottom and his Grandmother Mrs Longbottom"

Pleasantries were exchanged by the adults "It's a pleasure to meet you Neville" Hermione's dad said as he shook his hand, Neville smiled at his kind face, his warm brown eyes reminiscent of his daughters "Hermione cannot stop talking about you, it's good to have a face to the name"

"Daad" Hermione hissed under her breath at her father while attempting to subtly kick him in the shins.

David Granger held her by her shoulder, keeping her flailing limbs at a distance while suppressing a smirk rather unsuccessfully "I understand we have you to thank for magical plants taking over a patch of my vegetable garden?"

"Oh... I'm sorry Sir I…"

He laughed "please Neville it's David and I'm just kidding with you, it was wonderful to see Hermione out of doors during the summer you normally have to leave books in a trail like breadcrumbs to achieve that" Hermione rolled her eyes, her neck heating "I promised Hermione I would send notes on the rose progress, I'm sure she'll find her way to passing that onto you"

Their conversation was thankfully cut into by his Gran as Hermione looked close to breaking several Ministry rules by hexing her father.

"It is lovely to see you again Miss Granger"

"Thank you, please call me Hermione Mrs Longbottom" she replied slightly sheepishly.

"Hermione then, good luck this year my dear and keep each other safe"

After a few more good natured barbs from her dad and assuring her mother for the fifth time that she wouldn't indulge in too many sweets they were allowed to make their way onto the train. Once they found an empty compartment they collapsed onto the benches sitting opposite each other and Neville got lost into glancing at her as she waved to her parents out of the window.

"What?"

He was startled by her addressing him "What do you mean what?"

"You were staring"

He flushed slightly but deflected "Sorry I think I was in a state of shock"

"How come?"

"I think you might be marginally taller"

She spent the next ten minutes throwing whatever she could get her hands on at him until Harry and Ron appeared with Ginny and Luna in tow and he stood to sit next to her on her side of the carriage.

The journey was passed by quickly the crowd happily chatting with each other, only Harry remained quiet and snappish. After he had shouted at Hermione for the third time Neville stood, pushing Hermione down the bench till he was sitting between them ignoring her furrowed brow and engaged her in talking about the Mimbulus Mimbletonia he had received as a present from his Uncle Algie. He told them all about his plans to show it to Professor Sprout, as well as wanting to breed it.

Sensing that she was still preoccupied he tried to distract their further "if I get approval from Professor Sprout to breed the plant for the Hogwarts greenhouses will you be able to spend some time helping me with the research to complete it"

"Yes of course, but I'm not sure I'll be much help you're the expert with Herbology"

Neville schooled his features "Oh I don't need your brain Hermione I need an assistant someone to carry books, shovel soil, mop my brow that sort of thing"

He couldn't contain his huff of laughter at the complete outrage on her face. It took her a moment but after she saw his laughing eyes her gaze narrowed.

"Neville Longbottom you absolute pest" she laughed as she pinched his arm.

* * *

In a welcome reversal of the usual start of term events Neville assisted Harry in getting into the Tower that night as he had not yet learnt the new passwords after he had been detained following the Sorting Feast by Dumbledore.

What had started as a great day ended with a shouting match and very nearly fists being thrown in the boy's dormitory. Seamus Finnigan had raved about Harry losing his marbles with words escalating until Neville pinned him against the wall telling him calmly that his family had cancelled their subscription to The Daily Prophet as it had clearly gone downhill.

Seamus walked out followed by an apologetic looking Dean a moment later.

"Thanks Neville" Harry murmured

"No problem Harry"

* * *

In his first charms class of the year Neville was able to put his new wand to work for the first time and marvelled as much as everyone else when he was able to summon water on his first try winning ten points for Gryffindor in the process.

Well everyone except Hermione who had said "Well done" with the biggest look of smug satisfaction he had ever seen plastered across her face.

* * *

Neville had been exceptionally tense before attending the first DADA lesson of the year memories of the unforgivables being cast in front of him hadn't yet faded and the knowledge that the curse that had been used to torture his parents eventually robbing them of their sanity had been performed in front of him, by one of the wizards that had carried out the attack still haunted his dreams, he wrung his hands together absently before entering the room when called.

He had assumed that after already having faced a man possessed by Voldemort's spirit, a fraud, a werewolf and a Death Eater in disguise they would have seen the worst of what Hogwart's had to offer in the realm of Professors. It appeared however that his assumption was very much wrong.

* * *

Throughout the first term tensions in the DADA classroom between Harry and Umbridge ratcheted. Harry was in almost permanent detention at this point and it seemed as if she had a particular dislike for anyone even partially associated with the boy who lived.

He had watched with some trepidation when he had lifted his head on several occasions during lessons to find her eyeing Hermione almost hungrily.

She had gained the nickname The Toad because of her squat bulbous face and permanently glassy eyes. As someone that had a toad as a familiar for many years he was offended on Trevor's behalf. Sometime at the end of last year when he and Hermione had been sat revising by the lake Trevor had escaped from the confines of his tank and hopped with more speed than he had ever displayed before to the water's edge and Neville had never been able to find him.

He wondered if his toad had felt the same crushing relief as he had.

* * *

Neville had stood back in awe the first time he had entered the Room of Requirement, a place in the castle he had no idea even existed. Hermione had taken him up to see it ahead of the first defence club lesson in a couple of days' time and stood at the side smiling while he rushed about looking at everything.

Once he had a go at firing a number of hexes at the dummies positioned on the far wall she called him over to a table in the corner.

"Look at this" she tipped up a small purse and galleons fell all over the table surface.

"What are these?" he asked while flexing one of the coins between his fingers.

"There for us to communicate with, I got the idea from the coins I made for us in third year but I've finally been able to work the magic to send messages"

"Wow Hermione that's so cool"

"Thanks Neville" she beamed "So Harry will have the master coin and then when he sends a message the rest will heat up and tell everyone when the next meeting is... Here you take one now" she proffered him the fake galleon.

He had the last one, the prototype safely stored away in his trunk, he was thankful he no longer needed it but he didn't think he would ever be able to bring himself to get rid of it.

"Oh and I did something else" she brushed all of the galleons back into the purse and pulled out another smaller one from her inside pocket, she grabbed Neville's had and emptied the contents, two sickles into his palm.

"What are these for?"

She was a little embarrassed, if the way she wouldn't meet his eyes was any indication

"Well erm, while I was practising I managed to perfect a two way charm, these coins are not like the others in that these will both work as a master coin, meaning that two people can send messages and receive messages to each other" her voice continued getting smaller and smaller "I thought you might like to keep one… you know test them out.. And such"

He grabbed her wrist to put one of the coins back into her palm before picking up his wand and waving it over the shiny silver surface. She gasped a little as the surface of her coin must had emitted some heat.

"U R AMAZING"

She snorted and they went back to taking on the dummies, saving duelling each other for the real first lesson.


	16. Chapter 16

_A/N Thank you to everyone who is supporting this fic, unbelievably there are now over 100 of you following eek!_

 _Fifth year continues… warning some (very mild) angst._

* * *

 **Year Five Chapter Two**

* * *

Another year, another term spent watching Hermione work herself into a complete tizzy over Harry and his safety, Harry and his mental state or her all-time favourite Harry and his grades.

Neville had tried to be compassionate and understanding and he was, he really was. Anyone that knew Harry knew that he had a rough ride of life so far and this year looked set to be the worst yet with his rage at Voldemort being back, his anger at everyone's finger pointing and the threat of Umbridge looming over them the kid couldn't catch a break.

Despite all that Neville was jealous. He had thought after getting closer last year and they're night at the Yule Ball that his relationship with Hermione would have progressed. The memory of their near kiss in the greenhouse seemed to be burnt to the insides of his eyelids but he couldn't detect anything from her that would indicate she was feeling the same.

He wanted _more_.

He supposed he would have probably been ok, not happy but ok to take perpetual place in the wings had it not been for Hermione having changed considerably over the summer. Of course she changed every year but this year she looked... He wasn't sure how to describe it exactly, she was still tiny and slim but somehow full at the same time. Her jumpers were a little tighter and her face a little different, it was... nice.

But it was becoming more apparent that other boys were beginning to notice her too, whether they watched as closely as he did or whether the Yule Ball had changed their minds he wasn't sure. While he had been willing to stand to the side because of the war, he was less willing when there were so many sharks in the water.

* * *

Neville was removing his jumper after the first DA meeting. There were odd numbers so he had been paired with Ron and Hermione and each of the three of them had more than made the others work for it. He was knackered now but in the best possible way. Through using his own wand he was beginning to feel like he was getting better, he might not ever be a natural at defence like Harry but it no longer felt like he was fighting to get his magic to ignite.

He watched on with pride as Hermione explained the coins and handed them out, and was unable to suppress a slightly gloating tone when he informed Ron, who had passed one in his direction, that he _already_ had his, He didn't mention his own personal sickle in his pocket.

The warm feeling in his chest turned to ice as he watched a smiling Terry Boot walk over to Hermione grabbing her by the arm and begging a very animated discussion on the coin with her

"... _brilliant magic Hermione_ …"

"... _you really should have been in Ravenclaw you know_ …"

"... _wondering if we could get together to pick your brain_ …"

He felt his fists clench and he turned to look at her, his eyes narrowed as he observed her blush and avert her eyes from the Ravenclaw's _very appreciative_ gaze. He didn't wait to see what she was saying her response was written all over his face. He turned to grab Luna to leave as per Harry's instructions.

* * *

The next day despite having slept well he was still angry with her, rationally he knew it wasn't her fault, they weren't together and he hadn't asked her out but she must know he liked her? _Mustn't she?_

She walked into breakfast closely behind him and sat directly in front of him on the bench opposite.

"Good morning Neville how are you?"

"Fine" he answered petulantly and turned his attention back to his food, he could feel her glancing at him during the meal but she never asked him another question.

When she got up to go to Potions she asked if he was coming, he fumbled through some half excuse about needing to collect something first and she walked off. He didn't miss the hurt expression in her eyes, he turned back round to spot a glowering Ginny further up the table doing nothing to hide the fact she thought he was evil incarnate. He pushed away the memory of Hermione's sad expression and got up to go to Potions, making sure to walk slowly so as not to catch her up.

* * *

Neville collapsed on his bed at the end of the day, he had done his best to avoid her he knew he was being a little cruel, in fact it was the kind of behaviour that he had called Harry and Ron out on before but he just couldn't face her. Whenever he saw her he would be flooded with images of her and Terry embracing or worse kissing and it made him _so mad_.

If he was braver he would have just told her how he felt and then maybe she would understand but for now he couldn't risk losing her friendship with her refusal.

 _You're risking that already_ his mind whispered.

He was distracted from the swirling of his thoughts by a warm sensation in his pocket, he reached in and pulled out the tepid silver sickle.

NEV?

The letters appeared emblazoned on its front, she had never called him that, Hermione wasn't really one for giving nicknames but they were slightly limited in the amount of letters they could use. He waited several seconds for the word to disappear, he through his head back exhaling heavily lost to his own thoughts until the coin began to heat again, he raised the surface to his face.

R U THERE?

With a heavy heart he rolled the small coin in the palm of his hand before placing it on his nightstand and getting ready for bed.

* * *

When he woke up the next morning he stared down the innocuous silver coin for several minutes before turning on his heel and leaving it where it was.

* * *

A whole week later Hermione had stopped trying to talk to him, the coin, that he had since placed back on his person wherever he went never heated again. He had started to notice signs from her that she was struggling a bit with the shutdown of their friendship but he had no idea what to do, he wanted to put things right but couldn't do that without admitting why he was acting as he was.

It was all a bit of a mess.

It was coming to the end of that day's Herbology lesson and he was cleaning equipment with Seamus when a light giggling carried from the other side of the classroom, both boys glanced up to see a small cluster of Hufflepuff girls talking amongst themselves in loud whispers until Hannah Abbott was all put pushed in their direction.

She seemed to take a small moment to centre herself before she marched over to stand in front of the sink he was working at and there in front of the whole class she asked him to so to Hogsmeade with her, the next one being that weekend.

Neville was stunned, he had never been asked out before and Hannah was a very pretty vivacious girl, a lot of the boys fancied her.

He must have been taking too long to respond as he felt Seamus punch his side "Sure... yeah that sounds great"

Hannah smiled at him and he was sure his face was bright red, he turned in time to see the back of Hermione's curled head leaving the greenhouse with a perplexed Ron and Harry looking after her, and somehow it didn't sound as great anymore.

* * *

He met Hannah by the castle gates that Saturday and they made their way into Hogsmeade together, he hadn't noticed how tall she was until they were walking together, she wasn't as tall as him far from it, but maybe taller than he would like? _That sounded ridiculous_.

They made polite, if somewhat awkward conversation until they made it into the town where she smiled at him and suggested they go to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop, Neville looked at the pink laced cafe with a degree of trepidation but moved inside.

Inside was worse, inside was definitely worse. Neville hadn't seen that much pink in the span of his whole life and even his Gran would have baulked at the amount of lace one table alone held. Still he smiled his polite if somewhat strained smile and continued conversation.

He got a little lost looking at Hannah's hair, it was blonde, a fair, light yellow colour. All of it looked like the same hue, not like those girls were every individual strand looked a different shade, were some strands would be chocolate others would be more like toffee and some would be as light as brown sugar. It was also perfectly straight, there was nothing wrong with that of course but he realised how much he preferred curls. Curls sprang forward and begged to be touched, pulled on... He shook off the wayward thoughts as he noticed Hannah looking at him strangely, how long had he been lost to his own reflections?

After he paid they left the tea room and he had to stop himself from gulping in the unperfumed air, the pair slowly made their way back to the school with the conversation between them slightly more stilted now they had talked about everything he could think of.

When they got to the gates Hannah was swallowed up by a group of fifth years and he spied Hermione, Luna and Ginny sat down by the lake, Hermione was conjuring butterflies and Luna was shooting charms at them so they changed colour while Ginny laughed.

Stealing himself he walked towards them, he could pinpoint the exact moment he was seen, all of the girls tensed slightly. He forced his hands into his pocket.

"Hi girls" he turned to face her "Hi Hermione" it was the first time he had spoken to her since the morning after the last DA lesson and he was pretty tense about her response.

"Hi Neville" her tone could have cut glass "Did you have a nice time? I hope… Well I'm glad..."

"Hermione I didn't repl…. "

"Oh is that the time I need to get to the Library… I'm _happy_ for you Neville"

And with that she gathered her stuff and stormed back in the direction of the castle with Ginny scrambling her stuff together before chasing after her.

He collapsed on the floor next to Luna, neither of them said anything for the longest time

"It's not her you know?" the blonde breathed eventually, he turned to face her one eyebrow raised, she looked at him knowingly "It's not Hannah _for you_ I mean"

He sighed "I know Luna, I know"

* * *

In bed that evening Neville laid back twirling the sickle between his fingers before he finally sat up and waved his wand over it, watching the message rise on his coin before it was sent.

MI?

He stared at the coins surface for ten minutes and received no response before trying again.

MI R U THERE?

He fell asleep half an hour later on top of his covers with the coin still gripped in his hand, it never warmed.

* * *

 _A/N is there anything like the joy of passively aggressively telling someone you're happy for them? More fifth year teen drama coming up in the next chapter._


	17. Chapter 17

_A/N thank you for your responses to the last chapter I knew it was going to make people cross :) ah who would be a teenager again? … Thank you for your patience in waiting for this update. I took a week off from writing last week and this fic should now be back to regular updates._

* * *

 **Year Five Chapter Three**

* * *

Neville glanced up to regard the grey vaulted ceiling, his eye seeking some respite from the brilliant white that was everywhere else.

It was Christmas, not that you'd really be able to tell on the closed ward. They had tried of course, there was a tree, the obligatory bit of tinsel stuck inartfully on the walls but it was the atmosphere that let it down. Too much pain, too much guilt to be convincing as the _most wonderful time of the year_. Not that he ever enjoyed Christmas but this year he felt more despondent than ever.

He sat on one of the lumpy visitor's chairs next to his mother watching as she ran her fingers up and down his forearm rhythmically and fought down the tears that always threatened when he was the subject of her tender affection, he didn't have to worry about being seen, his Gran was thoroughly occupied with his Dad at that moment.

She had visited the month before to be told that Frank Longbottom was suffering a little with a cold, and had apparently been struggling to keep warm. His Gran had said nothing in response to the Healer's assessment only nodded though today she offered no explanation for the ten jumpers she had brought, one of which she was aiding Frank in putting on now while she spoke to her son in low tones.

He heard a telltale rustle and looked back round to see his mother riffling through the box of sweets he had brought. He had never fully worked out if it was the sweets or just the wrappers she enjoyed, he wondered for the hundredth time if she had a sweet tooth, whether he would have teased her about hiding sweets all over the house or whether he would have planned with his dad as a young kid to pick up her favourites for a birthday or just because.

It was these bits he had missed out on, all the tiny little things that people never thought to tell him. He knew what she was like, everyone had good things to say about Alice Longbottom, she had been well liked, warm and completely devoted to his father but he didn't know all of the little tidbits, the tiny inconsequential things that made up who she was.

Like the things he knew about Hermione, how she had porridge everyday but Sunday when she would treat herself with a pastry, which she would have with strawberry jam, if there wasn't any of her preferred flavor she would take blackberry but she would wrinkle her nose first.

His heart sank at thoughts of her, he had been planning to ask her to come today, to this visit, she had asked to come and meet his parents when he had told her that day in the library, but that was before. They still weren't speaking since he was a total idiot and had let his jealousy get away from him.

She was ignoring him now in her polite standoffish Hermione way. He even missed the little hurt glances he would have gotten in the first few weeks, horrible as that was, it had just been _so_ _long_ since she had looked at him at all.

He had not spent any time with Hannah Abbott since their day in Hogsmeade, the Hufflepuff had been a little taken aback when he had told her he wanted to remain friends, the conversation was awkward but it needed to happen, he'd already upset one girl with his actions he couldn't upset another. If his Gran found out she would kill him.

He wasn't sure if Hermione was seeing Terry Boot, he wouldn't have blamed her if she was, he couldn't bring himself to ask Harry or Ron as he was pretty sure confirmation would have hell. He had seen them studying together a few times, sitting huddled together at her favourite table in the Library. It must have been nice for her to finally have someone on _her_ level to converse with. Boot had brought her Sugar Quills once bringing them into the DA meeting. Ginny and Luna had oohed and aahed from their place next to him. Neville hated him for getting her a gift, hated him more for knowing they were her favourites. Not as much as he hated himself though.

Movement in the corner brought him from his thoughts and he watched his Gran as she said goodbye, he raised to his feet walking over to his Dad to give him a one sided hug before kissing his mother's forehead and leaving the room without looking back, he never looked back.

* * *

Distracted he walked into the impersonal corridor and straight into Ron Weasley, despite the force of the impact both boys stared at each other.

"Neville what are you doing here?" Ron asked confused, it was then that Neville noticed the two figures behind him. Harry was standing to his right looking uncomfortable, he turned his head eagerly to find Hermione stood almost completely behind her ginger friend, his mind went blank.

In his flustered state he missed that the sound of impatient clacking feet down the hall had stopped "Have you not told them" Neville's Gran asked, her tone venomous "of all the… _Young man_ I'll have you know that Neville's parents…"

Hermione stepped forward "Apologies for interrupting Mrs. Longbottom" she began; her voice was small so much quieter than it had been when she had verbally sparred with his Gran before "Neville didn't keep it a secret... I've known about his parents for a long time and…" she squared her shoulders but she wouldn't meet his eyes "how proud he is of them"

"I'm glad to hear it, as it should be" his Gran replied her tone still crisp.

A shuffling noise interrupted the interaction and his mother dragged herself over to where he was standing, she seemed oblivious of the other people in the hall as she grasped his wrist, pulling his fingers gently and depositing a brightly coloured wrapper from one of her new sweets into his palm. He closed his fingers lightly around the paper before bending to kiss her cheek "thanks Mum"

The conversation between Hermione and his Gran continued but he tuned it out opting to see his mother back to the ward, when he had woken up that morning he was pretty sure he couldn't have felt worse about the situation but then she had stuck up for him. When he made it back his Gran was wrapping up.

"Well we must go...Miss Granger it is always a pleasure, I do hope we will see you over the Summer" and without another word she recommenced her fast pace towards the lift.

"Well I take it that's me off the invite list" Ron began

Neville ignored him, not taking his eyes off Hermione who was resolutely staring at the floor, fiddling with the hem of her jumper "I'll be there in a second Gran" he called before he could stop himself "Hermione can I speak to you for a moment?"

Hermione didn't move, didn't speak but her knuckles went white. He was debating begging when Harry stepped forward and shoved her softly by the shoulder, her head snapped up to her friend and a moment of silent communication appeared to move between them before she turned back in his direction and mumbled out a barely audible "yes".

"Come on Ron let's get to the ward before Mrs. Weasley notices were missing" and Harry started down the corridor not before looking over Hermione's head at Neville mouthing "sort it". Neville nodded, he hoped he was still able to.

Once a bemused but suspicious looking Ron had followed his friend Neville swallowed roughly, not sure what he was going to say now he had the opportunity.

"What do you want Neville because I need to see Mr. Wea…"

"I'm sorry" he blurted "really _really_ sorry" it was as good a place as any to start he supposed, what Hermione thought was unclear as she kept her eyes averted but he thought he heard her breath hitch "I was being silly and… I've really missed you"

Her lack of reaction was killing him so he did the only thing he could think of and reached for her hand, like she had when they were eleven and she was scared, like he had when they were thirteen and she was destroying herself slowly and like now when he was fifteen and he _needed_ her to forgive him.

Hermione stilled at the contact, her entire body going rigid, but she didn't move her hand away. After a long stretch of silence, she spoke "I've really missed you too... But you...you were so cold… and I…" she raised her head and he could see her eyes, she looked wary and worse he would make out tears pooling in their depths, he slumped.

"I… I don't like Boot" he whispered

"Well I do" she huffed

Neville felt nervous "Is he... Are you dating him?"

"Are you dating Hannah?" she countered raising an eyebrow, he hated her sniping at him but it was infinitely better than tears, they stared at each other "No, she asked me to Hogsmeade and I went but we haven't… there hasn't been anything else... I don't want anything else"

She sighed with what he hoped was relief "I'm not dating Boot... we study together sometimes but he's not… he isn't… I'm not interested in him _like that_ "

"So can we go back to being friends now?" he asked, wishing his voice sounded a touch less desperate

"I..."

" _Please_ Hermione" he gripped her hand tighter

"Yes" she whispered "but… you really hurt my feelings and… don't do it again"

The promises on his lips were halted by his Grandmother calling him impatiently from the lift "I have to go I'll err, see you on the Express"

"Yes ok" she agreed wiping her eyes quickly on the edge of her jumper.

He wished he didn't have to leave at that moment, there was another week until they went back to school which was plenty of time for her to change her mind "Can I err… can I write to you?"

"If you want" she replied thickly

"Will you reply?" he pushed

She huffed a small laugh "Yes Neville I'll reply"

Relief washed over him and he leant forward and kissed her cheek "Thank you Hermione _I really am sorry_ " he garbled out before rushing down the corridor.


	18. Chapter 18

_A/N Year 5 continues..._

* * *

 **Year Five Chapter Four**

* * *

Following their return to Hogwarts in January the frost between Hermione and Neville that had felt impenetrable only weeks before, thawed like the weather outside the castle. As optimistic as Neville knew he had been to ask if they were friends again, it soon became apparent that though both of them were _trying_ some things were not a simple fix.

Little things helped more than grand gestures. He went around the whole castle searching for a textbook Hermione had lost that had made her frantic. When he had returned to the common room, book in hand she had treated him like a knight returning from a quest.

On one quiet rainy Thursday they talked about his parents, she said that she could see that whatever anyone said his mum knew who he was and obviously loved him, he had hugged her a little tighter when saying goodnight that evening.

It took time and effort but they somehow found themselves back onto a more even footing, a comfort he was exceedingly grateful of when at dinner one evening the ceiling of the great hall became a sea of owls. They never normally had that many postal deliveries at that time and every head in the hall started up in puzzlement.

The sound of thunking soon followed as almost every other student, and every staff member, had what turned out to be an Evening Prophet delivered haphazardly in front of them. The room was eerily quiet and he watched with no small amount of trepidation as Hermione unraveled her copy. He hadn't been lying at the start of the year, in defense of Harry he really had cancelled his subscription, he had been surprised at Hermione keeping up hers but she had simply said that forewarned is forearmed.

He saw the headline over her shoulder and couldn't stop himself from snatching the parchment from her grasp. He read the words maybe ten times before they would process in his brain _ten Death Eaters had escaped Azkaban._

Dread pooled in his stomach as he slid his eyes over the names praying that none of them were there, all the while knowing it was a foolish hope, there in bold letters was what he feared the most;

 _Rabastan Lestrange_

 _Bellatrix Lestrange_

 _Rodolphus Lestrange_

As if Barty Crouch Jr had not been enough, he couldn't settle on one emotion his feelings rattled, changing like lift lights, clicking from one to the other so quickly fear, guilt, terror and rage, so much rage.

Hermione had been sat next to him at dinner that evening, he had tentatively tried sitting next to her at some meals the week before and so far it had been going well. He was drawn from his thoughts as he sensed her silently sliding her hand under the bench to grip his fingers. His hand clamped her hand using the appendage to tug her closer pulling her up the bench so she was sat right next to him, their bodies joined all down one side. He made himself focus on the sensation of her being _right there_ to calm himself.

He had just loosened his death grip on the parchment when McGonagall appeared behind their bench, she looked at him kindly "Mr. Longbottom if you would come with me please?"

He stood up on shaky legs and followed his Head of House, his mind turned to his Gran, he supposed he would be able to floo her from McGonagall's office it seemed prudent to check that she hadn't gone out in hopes of taking vengeance herself. Though he considered his fear wasn't for her safety, Augusta Longbottom had been a fierce duelist in her day and motivated by the loss of her brilliant son he was sure there wouldn't be much that would stand in her way. Emotionally though he couldn't be certain how she would take this.

* * *

He left the office three hours later, after he had spoken to his Gran who had made repeated assurances that she was fine and that she would not make any movements that had not been sanctioned by The Order, he had thought she was going to kill him, where he knelt in front of the fire, when he asked her to place her hands on her lap, where he could see them while she promised, but she eventually complied.

By the time he made it back into the common room he was hollow the last few hours had totally wrung him out, he moved through the portrait hole and into the abandoned space, the clock told him it nearly 11.30 so he assumed everyone had gone to bed. Walking over to the fire he stopped as he heard the familiar purr of Crookshanks who was lying on top of Hermione. She was reclining inelegantly on the sofa clearly having not expected to fall asleep, her body was a tangle of oddly placed limps, her chin resting on her chest.

Her cat's sudden animation caused Hermione to wake up, she opened her eyes slowly but must have sleepily recognised him and scrambled to her feet "Neville are you ok? I tried to stay up but obviously well... Are you ok?"

He shrugged, he didn't want to speak about it anymore, Hermione seemed to understand "Do you want to stay down here for a bit?"

He nodded and she fell to sit back on the edge of the sofa, emotional and physical weariness creeping into him he didn't really think about what he was doing when he laid out on the rest of the sofa and plonked his head on her lap. His breath hitched when tiny tentative hands began running delicate fingers through his hair, the touch shattered the last reserve he had and he let the tears he had been holding in fall.

* * *

He was quietly working in Potions with Hermione when all of the rage he had been suppressing burst from him. The class was particularly humid that day and Hermione had moved to tug the sleeves of her jumper out of the way while she cut the ingredients in the prescribed methods. He saw a flash of something on her hand and moved to face her "What was that?"

Hermione was brilliant at many things but she was probably one of the worst liars on the planet, before she had even said a word to incriminate herself her entire body had gone stiff and she clutched frantically at her cuffs to pull the grey wool back down.

Determined, and forgetting their surroundings he lurched forward and gripped at her wrist pulling her hand away from her, and there it was, etched into the back of her hand, scratched into her skin; _I must respect my betters_.

Her usual perfect script was jagged and uneven, he felt sick, Neville was just about to begin questioning her when the dark billowing robes of Snape appeared before them "If you two could finish your adolescent histrionics in your own time" his voice was taut and menacing but for the first time Neville didn't really care he was so focused on Hermione, he came to as she tugged away her hand and they reluctantly went back to working in silence.

As soon as the bell rang she sprung from her seat, packed her stuff and exited the room in less than five seconds. He rushed to catch up just reaching the door before…

"Mr. Longbottom" Snape called, Neville span on his heel exasperation written all over his features. Snape ignored it and pointed a finger in front of his desk, Neville sighed before stepping forward "Wait" Snape drawled when he had reached the desired spot.

The Potions Master walked into his stores reemerging and proffering Neville a small glass jar that looked to contain a murky yellow liquid, he reached forward to take it "What is it sir?" he asked befuddled.

"Please don't make me spoon feed you Longbottom" when he remained staring at him his Professor sighed "You can go... I haven't got all day"

* * *

Umbridge was getting worse. Though she continually implied Harry was a liar and Dumbledore was losing his facilities she seemed to be the one who was becoming unhinged.

Harry's hand looked worse than that of anyone else on the wrong side of her, by this point Neville doubted the scars would ever fade.

With the news of the Azkaban outbreak, Umbridge's increased tyranny and the appointment of the Inquisitorial Squad the DA ramped up considerably. Even Neville had now mastered most of the basic spells and found that he was becoming more and more comfortable with offensive magic. He worked harder than he ever had, the threat outside the castle walls was real now, he glanced across at Hermione who was practicing shields with Luna, he wouldn't let anything happen to someone he loved.

His issues with the Patronus continued, Hermione had managed to cast hers to take form and now whenever they practiced any non-corporeal wisps he would produce would float across the practicing space to flow under her otter making it appear as if the tiny animated animal danced across clouds.

* * *

Standing out in the Forbidden Forest Neville believed he could hear his heart thumping inside his chest. When he had asked, _no demanded_ Harry take them with him he had felt no fear, his heart warmed by the belief in his righteousness. Harry maybe the _Chosen One_ but he couldn't do this on his own, likely they couldn't do it all together but he wouldn't leave him to go without support.

That fire had long since faded, the flames getting smaller and smaller since Luna had ventured that she had an idea, they were supposedly now looking at it, at an empty paddock.

"Thestrals" Luna declared seemingly delighted with this turn of events, he heard a muffled curse and raised his eyebrows as it appeared to come from Hermione. As that was probably only the second time he had ever heard the witch swear in five years he doubted he would like what followed.

Minutes later the idea went from baffling to ridiculous as they found themselves attempting to mount the creatures without being able to see them, Hermione had shrunk in on herself and before Harry could bring round another for her to get on Neville reached down to grab her hands and pulled her on to his mount, sliding back so she could sit in front of him.

"You're okay Hermione, I won't let you fall"

He felt her exhale and rest against him and he prayed he would be able to keep his promise.


	19. Chapter 19

_A/N thank you to everyone who is reading, reviewing or clicking the fav or follow button... DoM time!_

* * *

 **Year Five Chapter Five**

* * *

Neville's memories of that evening came back to him in unordered flashes, triggered by sounds, smells or noises. He had slept restlessly waking periodically to check on the occupant of the bed to his left. Once Madam Pomfrey had finally disappeared for the evening he dropped from his cot on shaky legs and summoned his diminished strength to shift the bed till it was nearly resting against hers, leaving a gap you could fit a fist in for the sake of propriety.

He climbed back into the bed ungracefully though thankfully silently and turned on his side, endeavoring to keep perfectly still until he could just hear the quiet snuffling of her breathing, he gently stretched his hand forward to grip hers before falling back into a disturbed sleep.

* * *

There was a flash of pure white light and he could remember.

He could remember the feel of the curse ripping into his skin, his nerve endings shouting in protest as the manic witch of his nightmares cackled above him "let's see how long Longbottom lasts before he cracks like his parents"

He didn't cry out, he wouldn't falter, he wouldn't give her the satisfaction. His time under the curse was momentary but it was enough to strip the air from his lungs. Academically he had known what the effects of the Cruciatus Curse were, feeling it was so much worse than he could have ever imagined.

He had never seen the Auror report detailing the attack on his parents but he knew that they had been repeatedly cursed for over two hours, all four of the Death Eaters presents had taken turns and they had never given away a thing, maybe his Gran had not been exaggerating about them after all.

He heaved in a deep breath to scream at Harry not to hand it over, none of them knew why they wanted it so desperately but the very fact they did made him determined they not get their hands on it.

His words were affected by the savage break in his nose and the blood in his mouth, the crucio he had been hit with had accelerated the blood flow. He somehow made it back onto his feet, they got away and Harry had kept his hold on the orb. They had survived another encounter, how many more before they were caught out?

* * *

There was a clicking sound coming from somewhere in the ward, a door closing maybe, the sound was much more gentle than the cracking of glass.

The Order had arrived and he felt sublime relief, as the familiar faces flew into the dank space he could have dropped to his knees, they would be ok, they would leave and he would be able to save her. But it wasn't over yet, the Death Eaters clearly weren't going down without a fight. Dolohov had appeared clearly not satisfied with his reign of terror for the evening, he smiled at Neville's mangled face and Hermione's broken form resting at his feet before shooting a hex right at him, tripping him up. He and Harry watched on in horror as the orb fell to the ground smashing into dust as a cloud of smoke arose from the ground, whatever the prophecy said was lost to the sounds of the battle all around them.

* * *

It was so dark on the ward, the vast space barely lit by candles burning low on the sides but it had none of the murky darkness of the Department of Mysteries. Neville looked over to Hermione, her little body lying in bed as still as she had been in second year. He felt the stirrings of fear in his gut, fear that had started that moment in Umbridge's office, fear that had ratcheted with each new horror that they had faced.

He remembered their panic in the Hall of Prophecies after following Harry, who had been drawn to an orb with his name on it. Neville and Hermione had both urged him not to remove it, as usual he didn't listen _he had a feeling about it_ he said once his hands had wrapped around the glass and he had begun to lower it from the shelves the Death Eaters had made themselves known.

A mask less Lucius Malfoy and a mocking Bellatrix Lestrange had made his blood run cold. The little cluster of students drew closer to each other. The full magnitude of the event crashing down on all of them, they were outnumbered and very much outclassed. There was a real possibility they would not make it out of there alive.

* * *

A dark shadow seemed to move across Neville's eyelids.

He remembered his face… Antonin Dolohov, the face that split into a wide beam as he broke Neville's nose and raised his large hand to snap his wand in front of his face. Now that he was removed from intensity of that situation Neville was once again thankful to Hermione for pushing his Gran into getting a new one at the start of the year, he would have been devastated to watch his father's wand be broken in that way.

He saw Hermione wipe that insufferable smirk off his face, he must have thought he had gotten Harry, probably believed that they had won but he hadn't factored on _her_ , she stood in front of one of the most formidable Death Eaters that anyone had ever heard and her hand didn't even shake as she silenced him.

Neville had been stunned but nowhere near as stunned as Dolohov, he had been too far away when he registered the Russian's face contort, clearly livid at her actions. The very next second a bright purple slash illuminated the dingy space and she… she crumpled, falling to the floor with a tiny thud.

Harry reacted first stunning the looming figure before he could do anything else, wandless as he was Neville's options were limited but given half the chance he would have run straight at the man.

Harry screamed at him to go get help, his voice wild with panic Neville wanted nothing more, he wanted to get her out of there but he couldn't, he knew when she woke up she would kill him.

He scooped her up and held her close, deriving what comfort he could from her shallow breaths, the evidence that she was holding on, still fighting "of all the times to _finally_ get to hold you".

* * *

"Neville"

He jumped at the unexpected rasp of her voice, he turned quickly, her eyes were alive and searching, full of fear and pain. He rolled over, pushing himself over the gap between their beds and pulled her to his side.

"You're ok Hermione, we're back at Hogwarts and everything is going to be ok"

He hauled her tighter as she began to cry "You're safe you're safe" he whispered into her hair, stroking a hand over the riotous waves until they both fell into sleep. With her resting against him, Neville slept right through till morning.


	20. Chapter 20

_A/N_

* * *

 **Year Five Chapter Six**

* * *

Neville remained at Hermione's bedside with almost no respite for the next week. At least she was capable of waking now, but even so, when she did come round it would only ever be for a handful of hours before she succumbed to sleep again. He would be forced to leave every now and again for showers or more clothes but he refused to go until someone was with her. That was typically Luna or Ginny, Ron was still recovering and Harry was struggling to come to terms with what had happened, blaming himself for both Sirius' death and Hermione's condition.

As Madam Pomfrey sought to remind him daily Hermione was still _very sick_. The curse she was hit with was a particularly dark one that they suspected to be of Dolohov's own design. Neville had heard whispers, whispers from adults who always seemed to assume that 'children' feet away from them must be deaf, they said if Hermione hadn't of successfully silenced him when she had she would probably be dead.

Everyone had been discharged now including himself, though he was still sleeping in the Hospital Wing. Hermione woke up in the night often, for the first few days every time she came to she would have no memory or waking before, the battle would be fresh in her mind, her eyes would be blown wide as her limbs flailed, it would take a while to calm her back down.

When she had woken up earlier that morning she had a freak out about the amount of school she must have been missing and he nearly incurred her wrath by breaking into almost manic laughter. She was becoming herself again, he felt lighter than he had for days.

He heard a familiar clacking of shoes on the ward floor and Augusta Longbottom walked into the room like a one-woman army. The situation reminded him of second year, he hoped she didn't expect to chide him back to classes today, much as he never wanted to fight with his Gran she wasn't going to win this argument.

She surprised him by not saying anything at first, rebuking or not. Instead she moved to Hermione's bed and pushed one of her chestnut, wayward curls out of her face, tucking it behind her ear almost affectionately before taking a seat next to Neville.

He braced himself but she kept silent, feeling anxiety bubbling up for the upcoming row he attempted to head her off at the pass "Her parents are muggle so they can't come when she's sick, I doubt they have even been told" his Gran made no reply "And I don't know how much she tells them anyway, about the war, about any of it".

He looked up at Hermione were she lay in the bed, the very top of the angry red welt was visible at the top of her pajamas, the mark was slashed straight across her torso and it would cause a permanent scar. The thought of such a hateful reminder or the disastrous evening dissecting her chest forever made him shudder.

"I'm scared" he admitted quietly.

"Your father was scared" his Gran said suddenly making him jump, when Neville processed her words he looked up at her wide eyed, she ignored his surprised expression and continued, her voice holding a note of a wobble "so scared for your mother whenever she went anywhere. It was bad enough when the war started but then when Alice got pregnant… well you're usually fairly affable father became something of a tyrant. They argued more in that period than I believe they ever did through the course of their lives together".

Neville was stunned, not only was this totally new information, he had never heard his parents described in such a _human_ way.

His Gran coughed and straightened her shoulders continuing in a voice much less thick "I need you to leave the ward and come with me to Diagon Alley today" He opened his mouth to protest "This is non-negotiable Neville, you need a new wand and I... we need to visit Gringotts"

"Gran, could we please just visit another day?" his voice was pleading.

"No actually young man I don't think we can" He sighed and she uncharacteristically slumped "Neville do you think it might be time to admit that you love her, at least to yourself?" He stilled under his Gran's scrutiny, his mouth was suddenly very dry, she huffed "As if I don't know… Longbottom men are always the same. Do you know how often I heard Alice's name before your father finally asked her out?"

Neville bit the 'of course I don't because you never tell me anything' that wanted to fall from his tongue and remained silent.

"They sat next to each other at the sorting feast in their first year. I believe sometime in his third year he began to have… _feelings_. According to all that knew him he made moon eyes at her until he finally asked her out in their sixth year but even then it was only because Sirius Black had pushed him into it"

"How did he do that?" he asked bemused.

"Supposedly the young Black heir pretended he admired Alice, all of his friends played along, he happened to drop into conversation in the common room that he was planning to ask her to Hogsmeade. I doubt the potential implications of young Master Black's reputation were lost on your father, as I understand it Frank marched straight over to where Alice was sat and asked if she would accompany him on the next Hogsmeade weekend"

"What did mum say?" Neville asked his voice taut.

"She was fairly surprised though she said yes and your father couldn't have been too upset about the whole thing as he told the story to quite humorous effect during his wedding speech" she stood abruptly "Come on, we don't have time to waste"

"Gran..." he began exasperated

"Neville" she returned frustration evident in her tone as well "If you are going to do this, you will do it the way I have raised you. I need you to leave the ward and come with Diagon Alley to me today I will not ask you again"

He stood from his seat to face her "For when you _tell her_ " she prodded eyebrows raised, as if he was missing something really obvious and she wanted him to hurry up to the conclusion, when he remained quiet she sighed "I understand now might not be the time, but there are _ways_ things are done to prove how serious you are Neville and that means a trip to the vaults"

Understanding dawned and he turned to face the curly haired witch in the ward cot stepping forward to softly kiss her cheek, his lips barely making contact with her cheekbone lest he wake her. Pivoting he faced his Gran again "I'll fetch my cloak".


	21. Chapter 21

_A/N_

* * *

 **Year Five Chapter Seven**

* * *

Neville was there when Hermione woke up, like always. It had been two weeks since The Order had brought them back to Hogwarts, she had continued to get better and despite the sideboard full of potions she _still_ had to take regularly she was now staying awake for most of the day and sleeping better at night.

Hermione was weak and drowsy but she was healing, he had been there when Madam Pomfrey had spoken to her about her scar and told her that it was permanent and although it would fade slightly over time the aggressive purple marking would not diminish in size.

She had tried to be brave 'seems silly to get upset about it when worse things have happened' she had said and then apologised for the first few traitorous tears that had fallen onto her cheeks and he had held her tightly, the embrace pulled the sobs from her body. When anyone else was there she pulled herself together, in front of him she let herself break just a little.

After Hermione had fallen asleep yesterday he quietly asked the Matron if he could move her bed to the back of the ward 'because she doesn't want people constantly gawking at her as they go past' he'd lied. Madam Pomfrey appeared to be suppressing a smile as she gave him the green light.

When Hermione had awoken that morning her eyes had flicked around her new location until understanding seemed to dawn "you had them put me in the Longbottom suite" she smiled.

He nodded "There are loads of visitors here, you ready to see some people?"

She began to move herself to sit up and he reached forward to help adjust her pillows, when she indicated she was ready he got up to pull back the curtain and Mrs. Weasley came bustling in talking at a mile a minute lamenting Hermione's weight, how pale she was and a million other things. As Ron's mother went to sit in his usual chair he made to leave.

"Neville" he turned around "would you stay?" Hermione asked tentatively.

He walked back to her and climbed into the bed next to her, he was sure Mrs. Weasley looked as if she would say something but at the last moment she suppressed it. As the visitors continued they shuffled closer to each other and over time he could feel her slowly relax against him. He wondered how he could tell her that he wanted to be able to sit with her like this for the rest of his life.

* * *

Hours later and finally the last visitor was gone and he and Hermione sat to eat lunch. Neville found that he wasn't really all that hungry, his mind thought back to how nervous he had been when he was preparing to ask her to the Yule Ball. He would rather have done that again ten times over that what he had to do but there was no getting away from it, he knew he had to _tell her_ and it had to be _now_.

"Hermione can I talk to you about something?" he blurted

"Of course" she replied politely putting the remains of her sandwich on the table by the bed and looking up at him expectantly.

Neville exhaled shakily and willed himself to get through this without major incident or misunderstanding "First, this is going to come out all wrong, I'm not as good with words as you and well anyway..." best to get a caveat in their first "You helped me find my toad when we first met and I thought you were a bit of a snotty cow" she laughed at his description "then you reached to hold my hand when you were scared in that boat and I think in some way I've wanted to hold your hand ever since".

Hermione's wide eyed expression reminded him of an animal he'd seen once at a zoo, a bush baby he thought it was called, he waited for her to say something to interrupt his words but she was uncharacteristically silent.

"I … I love you Hermione... Not some image of you, not the girl that took all day to get ready at the Yule ball, though she was nice too" he laughed nervously, hoping she would understand his meaning and not be insulted " _You_ … you with your insane hair and loud opinions and colour coded revision notes" he reached forward to grip both of her hands and was relieved when she didn't pull away.

"I love you because you always saw _me_ , I become the best I can be when I'm around you and if that just means we remain friends then I can try to be happy with that but I love you and I want _everything"_

Hermione went to speak but her breath hitched, she unhooked her fingers from his leaning forward from her crouched position on the bed to place both hands on his arm, the gesture seemed consolatory but she began to speak, her voice thick "I love you too… I don't know from when exactly... When I finally realised, it felt like I had felt it always... You're the best person I know"

Neville smiled tentatively at her not able to process everything yet, his hands shook as he reached into his pocket retrieving a black velvet box and handed it over to her.

As she opened it he babbled "It's a piece from my house collection, my dad gave it to my mum on her seventeenth birthday… I'd be honored if you'd wear it, but you need to understand what wearing it _means_ … You can think about it if you…"

"I know what it means" Hermione whispered looking at the necklace on the soft cushion almost reverentially.

"You do?" he asked shocked.

She nodded "it's a declaration of intent, formally it means that...you think you might want to well… someday... Well it's serious" she finished finally her face flushed.

He nodded "told you I was a bit more old fashioned than you thought" she beamed at him

"Neville it's so beautiful… Err would you mind if I… can I wear it now?"

"If you want to" he answered calmly though his mind was screaming with triumph. He moved to place the necklace around her neck while she held her hair out of the way. When he dropped it against her skin it fell just above the swell of her breasts covering the beginning of the mark that Dolohov had left her. The chain itself was platinum and the stone was ruby surrounded by diamonds, it suited her.

As he moved back, after securing the clasp he realised how close their faces were, he could feel her shallow breaths against his cheek and moving cautiously he dropped his forehead to to hers and just breathed her in for a few minutes, willing his heart to stop the attempt to break out of his ribcage.

He pulled away slightly to be able to see her eyes, keeping one hand cupped around the back of her neck "I love you Hermione Jean Granger" he spoke quietly.

He searched her eyes and thought he could detect the smallest amount of water at the outer corners then carefully, falteringly, he dropped his face for their lips to meet. Her full lips felt slightly chapped as he pushed against them softly, chastely. After a few blissful moments he pulled away and pushed his forehead back onto hers.

"Does this mean were dating" she blurted, her cheeks pinking as soon as she realised what she had said.

He moved to sit next to her on the bed, pulling her into his side and reveling in all the simple touches that were half an hour ago forbidden to him being possible now. He measured his response "well yes if you want but it's a bit more than that, it means my intentions are more… well what... But... I know you Hermione and I know how focused you are on making sure Harry sees this through and it will make it difficult but _this means_ " he pulled on the necklace "that I will be here when this is all over, I will still be yours and I will make sure /you never experienced anything like this again. Because you need someone to put _you_ first and I will do that"

"Thank you for understanding I... would you mind if we didn't tell people for now" his face must have given away that he was not particularly in favour of that idea "It's just, with Sirius dying and everything it just feels a little disrespectful now and I…"

Neville leant forward to kiss her lips smiling against her skin, this means of stopping Hermione's worry monologues he could definitely get on board with.


	22. Chapter 22

_A/N Thank you to everyone reading this story, love to all of you who posted reviews or added to favourites and welcome to all the new followers!_

 _Unbelievably it's now year 6!_

* * *

 **Year Six Chapter One**

* * *

Before Neville knew it summer was over and he and the rest of his friends were back on the Express once again, hurtling towards Scotland.

His head was pushed back against the seat, Hermione and Ron had headed off to the Prefects carriage for their preterm meeting and Luna was in the middle of telling Harry about some random thing she had spent the summer searching for with her father.

It had been a little awkward when he had met Hermione on the platform, neither of them really knew what to do, how to greet each other now they had a new understanding between them. That day in the hospital wing had been one of the best of his life but he had eventually agreed that they wouldn't tell anyone, Hermione was right it wasn't the time, Harry had been a total mess and there had only been a week to the end of term.

They hadn't seen each other over the summer which had made things worse, though the school had not told Hermione's parents what had happened she had told them she was ill in the last few weeks, she had to say something, she was still pretty weak at the end of the year. And so they had whisked her away for a three-week holiday and then she had 'holiday reading' and a whole list of other things she needed to do. Neville was unhappy about it, seeing her over the summer would have been the perfect opportunity to talk about what they were going to do now and more than that he found he missed her. He would have grown completely despondent if it wasn't for her letters, they had changed a little, shifting to admit slight overtures of feeling, more enquiries into him as a person, more heartfelt passages.

And so here they were, on their way back to school and they were still yet to tell anyone about their relationship, Neville would have preferred people knew, but he could admit to himself he wasn't really sure how he could push the issue. They had smiled shyly at each other when they had got on the train but he hadn't had the opportunity to talk to her.

He was disturbed from his thoughts by the unwelcome sight of Romilda Vane bursting into the carriage, her eyes fell hungrily on Harry and she invited him to come into her compartment while making a face at him and Luna, Harry coldly rebuffed her, emphasising that Neville and Luna were among his closest and most loyal friends.

 _What if Hermione thought the same, what if she was embarrassed to be seen with him? Maybe that was why she didn't want to tell people?_

No, that wasn't fair on her, Hermione wasn't like that. She had genuine reasons for wanting to keep quiet, or at least genuine at the time. Only Neville didn't know how this worked now, was he allowed to act like her boyfriend in private or did he have to pretend nothing had happened at all?

He threw his head back with a little more force, this was so confusing.

* * *

An hour later Hermione and Ron rejoined them, no one else seemed to notice how close she had sat next to him, but he did. Just as he was about to begin a conversation with her a second year poked his head round the door informing him he was invited to join Professor Slughorn in his train compartment.

Neville reluctantly stood and moved down the carriageway awkwardly before climbing into the over full carriage. He endured thirty minutes of probing from the Professor into his family and he supposed prestige before he was allowed to go, he had heard about the Slug Club from his Gran, he had the distinct impression that he would not be getting an invite to any of his parties.

Not that he was sad about it, it wasn't like he would have been amenable to trading on his parent's success for an easy ride anyway and thanks to his new wand and a bit more confidence his grades were nothing to be ashamed of on his own merit.

Finally making his way back to their compartment he sat back down next to Hermione and they talked over their respective summers sharing all the small smiles and gentle touches that they could get away with while amongst their friends. He pushed a lock of curly hair behind her ear, she brushed a smudge off his cheek, he pulled on the cuff of her sweater, she looped a finger around his.

If this is what it would be like he felt he could cope, as long as she kept looking at him like that, it would all be fine.

* * *

Slughorn, the new potions master as it turned out, had become something of a force within the school by the time term end was approaching. As well as almost salivating over Harry he seemed to have taken a little bit of a shine to Hermione which provided Neville no end of amusement as she found their Professor vaguely repellent but tried her best to afford him the respect she afforded all of the teachers.

They had been muddling along together, it was a lot easier than he would have previously believed possible. He realised that they had always spent a large amount of their time together so it was no real adjustment to do it now, though this term they would subtly hold hands and occasionally kiss.

After liking her for so long those little moments of bliss when they found themselves alone were more than he could ever have dreamed of.

He wasn't sure anymore why they weren't telling anyone but he didn't know how to bring it up, things were going to well he didn't want to cause an argument that could potentially ruin everything.

There were two weeks until Christmas left and Neville was planning a trip to Hogsmeade the next day, hopeful to be able to find something for Hermione's Yule gift. He filed into the Great Hall ready to have dinner, sitting down with the boys from his dorm, just down from Hermione. He was still talking to himself about their situation; he didn't want to be yet another burden on Hermione's shoulders, plus she was her own witch he didn't need everyone else to know about them, it wasn't like he needed to lay a claim to her.

All of his progressive, forward thinking left him as he watched Cormac Mclaggen saunter into the room and squeeze in between Hermione and Ginny on their bench, he didn't have to strain to hear what he was going to say, everyone around them had gone completely silent all of them in various stages of subtle trying to listen in as well.

"Hermione you're looking _lovely_ today" Cormac drawled before reaching forward to finger one of her curls, Neville felt himself stiffen "I know we've both been invited to go to this Slug Club thing" he waved his hand as if he received party invitations every day "so I thought we could go _together_ , what do you say Granger, you, me...mistletoe" then he winked at her.

It was clear from the blonde's approach that he had assumed she would go with him, he seemed completely confident of his response as he picked up a slice of toast from her plate and appeared to be attempting to eat it… _suggestively_. Neville waited for her reaction, unconsciously gripping the sides of his chair.

He didn't want to look at them, Cormac was sitting entirely _too close_ though at least she had managed to shrug away his hand from her hair, the sight of someone else touching her with that level of familiarity made his chest hurt.

After pushing his food away from him he could feel eyes on him, he looked up to find her eyes flickering over to him, she looked so uncertain, as their eyes locked he took in her expression, she looked faintly pleading. It occurred to him for the first time that she might think that he was hesitant to tell people for his own reasons.

Before he could think about it too closely he stood from his seat and moved up the table to where Hermione was sitting, he stood behind her and laid a hand on the top of her arms.

"Cormac" he began as forcefully as his voice would allow "Hermione is... she's my girlfriend...So she won't be going to the party, or any party, with you or anyone else"

He paused concerned about Hermione's response completely oblivious to the mixture of gasps, incredulous noises or aahs around the table, until she straightened up beneath his hands "Yes, thank you for the kind invitation Cormac but I'm going with Neville"

Cormac looked surprised for a second but then nodded and moved two places down the table and asked another girl. He huffed out a laugh, suddenly aware of everyone's eyes on him, they seemed to have attracted the notice of the other house tables as well, he looked down, Hermione had a blush over her cheeks he didn't think she'd ever looked more beautiful to him.

Thinking it might be time to end the show for now he held his hand out and she took it, he helped her from out of the bench detangling her from an enthusiastic Ginny and made a show of bowing to her with a muffled "my lady" as they exited the room increasing the pretty blush over her cheeks again.


	23. Chapter 23

_A/N very sorry for the delay in updating this fic, I was close to finishing one of my other WIPs and have been focusing on getting that done. Now the last chapter of that is posted I have more time to devote to this fic :)_

* * *

 **Year Six Chapter Two**

* * *

The next day when Neville awoke in the boy's dorm he was on cloud nine. Who would have thought that a potential altercation with Cormac Mclaggen of all people would have spearheaded such a huge turnaround in his relationship? He really should find a way of thanking that total idiot, maybe if he could do something good for him where the other boy would never clock on that he was behind it.

 _When they had walked out of the hall Hermione was a little jittery from all the attention and he tugged her out of the main doors to walk around the grounds, it was freezing and they only had their standard school robes but it was worth it to be afforded some blessed privacy._

 _They followed the narrow icy footpath around the front of the castle to stand between two of the larger greenhouses where they would be sheltered from the cold winds and prying eyes, he turned to face her grabbing her other hand in his. She had drawn her bottom lip between her teeth and for a horrible moment he thought she wasn't happy that everyone knew "Neville, are you… are you ok with everyone knowing?" she asked shyly from under her lashes._

 _He released one of her hands to pulled her chin up to face him "Hermione I want everyone to know" he answered honestly hoping she would pick up on the total sincerity in his voice. The smile that broke across her face warmed his heart and made all of the confusion and fear from the last few months melt away._

" _I wasn't sure... That it… I know I asked if we could keep it secret and then… well then it was summer and I didn't really know how to ask and well it had been such a long time, me liking you I mean…" the flush that broke across her cheeks must have been working overtime to heat her face in this weather "...I didn't want to ruin it"_

 _He thought for a second, he wanted to talk to her properly while they had the chance, he was pretty sure she would be swallowed up by girls as soon as they got back to the common room, he fought to not roll his eyes "maybe we should promise to tell each other when we are worried about something, then we can avoid this… I wanted to bring it up too"_

" _You did?" she asked softly._

" _I did"_

 _She stepped up onto her tiptoes to kiss him then, it was the first time since they had declared their feelings that she had moved to kiss him first, though he could still count the number of kisses between them on his hands this one was almost as special as that first one in the hospital wing. Her mouth was slightly chilly but he could still feel the heat radiating off her skin from her earlier embarrassment. Kissing her was magic, pure magic and she wanted to kiss him and now everyone knew there was nothing to spoil it, no lingering doubts no ducking in case they got caught._

 _Feeling emboldened by the display in the hall and their hesitant sharing he gently swiped his tongue against the crease of her mouth ready to pull away the very moment she showed any sign of disinterest, when she slowly opened her lips under his he was sure his eyes widened under their closed lids._

 _He was nervous of this part, even though he wanted it in more ways than his brain could list, muddled as it was by her proximity, he had never done this before, he was momentarily terrified of doing something wrong until he felt the gentle caress of Hermione's tongue in his own mouth, somehow it was more simple then, or merely he shut his mind off and let his body take the wheel for a moment._

 _Her mouth was soft, warm and comforting, the intensity of it blew him away, it was like a magnified version of sitting next to her or holding her hand. Awareness of what they were doing washed over him and he felt tingles prickle all over his skin. After what could have been two minutes or ten years he slowly broke away, his body screaming both for oxygen and to find a way to do that continually for the rest of his days._

 _When he looked down at Hermione, his girl, his witch and saw the awed look on her face and the slight puckering of her swollen lips he felt a rush of true joy. Forgetting himself for a moment he lifted her into his arms and spun around on the spot, she giggled manically until his foot hit some compacted ice and they fell to the floor in an unruly pile._

 _Somethings would never change._

" _Come on" she said pulling him up "we better get up to the castle before we freeze to death or break something"_

 _He smiled and they marched up in search of warmth mindful of each other's secret glances every few steps._

His day time musings were cut short by someone shaking the post of his bed "come on Neville mate, less dreaming of my best friend more getting up for school"

He groaned "coming Harry"

Neville pulled himself from bed slowly still unhappy at leaving his happy sanctuary, he shook off the residual sleep as much as possible and headed into the shower. Sharing the small row of showers with every boy in the tower made him even more glad he was getting towards the end of his school career, what would he do then? Would he get his own place or stay living with his Gran? Would Hermione move in with him? What would she think ab…

"Earth to Longbottom" the voice registered just as he was violently swiped with a towel.

"What the hell Harry?" he grumbled.

"Sorry… sorry" the messy haired boy said, though his laughter made him sound anything but "listen I just wanted to catch you before lessons and stuff"

"Yeah?"

"Well I just wanted to say… err... well… I'm happy for you Neville"

"Oh… thanks I suppose" Neville replied self-consciously.

"I wasn't surprised really" Harry shifted awkwardly.

"No?" Neville asked surprised, he always thought he had hidden his feelings pretty well, maybe not from Hermione but from everyone else.

"No... well... I sort of hoped really, Hermione you see… I always knew she liked you" he must have taken in Neville's wide eyed expression as he added "she never told me anything, but she's my friend she was always different with you"

"She's always had a lot of time for you… and Ron" he said with what he hoped was a tone without bitterness.

"Yeah but... She treats us like siblings, _younger siblings_ " he smiled as if lost in some memory "you she talks to like an equal... She always thinks I've got too much on my plate so she never tells me when she's scared, but she tells you" Neville thought for a moment, although Hermione had hinted she'd had feelings for him for a while he never really considered that it might be the case, Harry set a steely gaze on him "so you look after her yeah?"

"Yeah of course"

"Oh and one other thing"

"What Harry?"

Harry rubbed the back of his neck he was clearly not overly happy with whatever he had to say "be careful of Ron yeah, I'm not sure how seriously he has taken this relationship thing between the two of you"

Neville nodded understanding perfectly "no worries Harry I'll set him straight".

* * *

 _A/N nothing like an awkward conversation about feelings between two teenage boys._


	24. Chapter 24

**Year Six Chapter Three**

* * *

As it turned out Neville didn't have to wait long to see signs of Ron's unhappiness, he had been out on the Quidditch pitch to watch this year's try outs. Hermione had asked why he didn't have a go himself, a couple of years ago it would have been because he didn't think he was good enough but now… now he would just prefer to watch it in the stands. Plus, with the improvements he was making with his grades he needed the time to study, that had nothing to do with his study partner of course, no nothing at all.

He had watched on with Seamus and Dean when Ron made a pretty good show despite his nerves, saving four out of five quaffles. Unfortunately it wasn't enough to beat Cormac, who saved all five with complete ease.

Neville had just made it to the pitch when Harry announced, incredibly reluctantly, that Cormac would be the team's Keeper. It was clear to the boys making their way across the stands that Ron was not happy even from this distance, moments later he burst through their huddle on his way back to the castle.

Neville and the others continued on to congratulate the rest of the newly appointed team and Harry on his first proper act as Captain. Galleons were already changing hands on the outcome of the next few matches.

Neville eventually headed back to the common room ruminating over how many coins he may have lost already when he came to an abrupt halt inside the portrait hole at the sound of shouting.

Ron was looming over Hermione who was still wrapped up in his jumper like she had been when he left, she had been determined to watch from the stands but had been sick for three days and Madam Pomfrey had expressly told her to remain indoors.

As the redhead continued yelling at her Neville could see her eyes had gone as red as her little nose. He didn't want to intervene, Hermione was her own person and was more than capable of fighting her own battles but he wouldn't let her face them alone if he could help it.

Making his decision he moved to the side of the fire and stood behind her placing a hand on her waist to get her attention. She turned in his grip to say hello and for a moment they both got a little lost in starry eyed gazing at each other at which point Ron exploded.

"Oi! You don't have to keep that up there is no one here to see you"

Hermione sighed "as I keep telling you, this is not an act, Neville is my boyfriend"

Neville tried really hard to keep the smile off his face but it was a near impossible feat, but when Ron stepped forward his expression changed automatically. Without thinking he moved from behind Hermione to next to her "I don't know what your problem is Ron but as Hermione says we're together so you're going to need to back off"

"She's my friend too and that means…"

"She is _your_ _friend,_ so stop yelling at her because you're in a bad mood"

Ron huffed before stomping out of the portrait hole. Neville sagged and sat into the wingback chair nearest the fire and tugged Hermione down to sit across his lap, his rough treatment made her lose balance and she landed a little harder than he had expected knocking the wind out of him before she erupted into uncontrollable giggles.

When they both come up for air he twirled a curl around his finger "Do you think we'll ever be smooth?"

"No" she breathed out, still shaking off her laughter before she ran a hand across his cheek "falling with you is better than standing with anyone else"

Neville made a subtle scan of the room before resuming his new current favourite pastime of kissing his girlfriend.

* * *

Neville had been looking forward to Christmas holidays for the first time ever, somehow his Gran had agreed that Hermione could stay over for one night of and he was taking her to visit his parents.

Everything seemed more manageable with her standing there, normally the trip to St Mungo's would have been made in total silence but Hermione twittered on in her usual fashion almost as if she didn't notice the lack of participation from her travelling companions, except she would have done, she was smart, even his Gran looked at the curly haired witch with a grateful expression as she continued to discuss a piece she had read in The Quibbler.

When they were standing outside the all too familiar ward doors she stopped chattering and gripped his hand squeezing just once before they walked through.

His parents were much the same as they ever were. His Gran went over to speak to his Dad and the healer in charge, and he moved towards his Mum Hermione following close behind "Mum" he leant forward to kiss her hair "this is Hermione" he gestured towards his girlfriend who shuffled forward.

"Hello Mrs Longbottom… ah... Alice, it's lovely to meet you I have heard a lot about you" his Mum still didn't respond, she was bent over turning her fingers in her hands "I brought you something" Hermione continued reaching into her bag and producing a large piece of fabric in a bright red colour handing it over to his Mum and placing it inside her hands.

Alice's hands stopped abruptly and began running her fingers over the cloth, when her hand swiped from left to right suddenly her head snapped up, eyes wide with delight. She stood and held the fabric to Neville proffering it so he could see what she had.

Neville took the cloth his mind heavy with total bemusement until he ran his fingers over it, each corner of the fabric was charmed to feel different, one corner as soft like the socks she liked so much, one corner warm, there was even an area where the fabric crackled underneath his fingers like the texture of the sweet wrappers his mum always carried.

Soon Alice had her fill of Neville having her gift and hastily took it back from him sitting back down with it on her lap running both her hands over it reverentially.

Hermione had been called over to say hello to his Dad and Neville was grateful of the few moments he got to compose himself while he rested his head on his mother's shoulder.

When Hermione came to say goodbye Alice darted forward, one hand circling Hermione's wrist as she dragged her hand over to the crunchy area of the fabric and beamed at her.

"You're welcome Alice"


	25. Chapter 25

_A/N penultimate chapter of year 6 now, thank you for all of your reviews, follows and favs for this story, it is unbelievable close to 200 reviews now!_

 _Hope you enjoy, I think this is my favourite chapter so far._

* * *

 **Year Six Chapter Four**

* * *

Neville ran down the corridor as fast as his legs would carry him, it was times like these he was grateful for his extra height. Turning quickly he realised just how far Luna had fallen behind and doubled back to grab her hand and continued moving through the halls at a pace she could keep up, part running part dragging her behind him.

They were outnumbered and outmatched and somehow they had all gotten separated, right now he was trying not to panic as to whether that had been by accident as part of the plan for the invading forces.

After running for a further five minutes he was totally spent, he would need to slow for a moment or two to be any use if they came up against anyone else in the near future, spotting a bend in the corridor he pushed Luna into an alcove before dropping his hands to his knees and attempting to get his breathing under control.

Malfoy had been odd all year. They had all been ignoring Harry going on about it, frankly, Harry took on a kind of manic zeal when discussing Draco and most of the other Gryffindors had learnt to tune it out, but now… now when he looked back he realised he should have been paying more attention.

The blond Slytherin had always been a bit of a menace but this year he had become withdrawn pale, even for Malfoy and just… well, odd.

Still, Neville would never have thought he would have let Death Eaters into the castle, they were all supposed to be safe here. He had thought they still had time.

Hermione had spoken to him a little, as much as she could he expected, about her plans for next year. _Its beginning_ she had said, _we need to be ready_. He had thought she was worrying too much and was painfully aware that the 'we' did not include him.

When his DA galleon had burned in his pocket that night he had almost missed it. His and Hermione's coins, the silver ones, he still kept on him most of the time, they used them rarely but he had a soft spot for the memento. With the gift of hindsight he had been falling even then, had been a lost cause long before she dragged him into a similar alcove to where he stood now, hair vibrating with energy and eyes like saucers.

When he had finally seen the message he had jumped from his bed, dressing quickly and arriving in the common room to find Ron and Hermione in a state of panic. They quickly explained all they knew but it wasn't much.

He had seen Malfoy with his own eyes, and then he had seen the Lestrange's. Rabastan had looked feral and mean as he slunk out of the room of requirement, something about him set Neville's teeth on edge, his eyes were wired and his grin was disturbing but so much of Neville's rage was directed elsewhere.

Bellatrix Lestrange was a lightning rod for Neville's every emotion about the war, his parents and his childhood. Some said that Azkaban had made her insane, it certainly hadn't done anything to make _her look_ stable, but Neville got the impression all it had done was amplify the wickedness that permeated that witch to the bone marrow.

He had heard her at the Department of Mysteries bossing her husband and everyone else within ten feet of her around, had she been like that the night they attacked his parents? Attacked them on a fool's mission only an idiot would think they could provide answers for.

He wasn't sure he could ever hate anyone or anything more than he hated her.

Draco had gotten away and honestly Neville couldn't say he was sad, at the time when his vision had disappeared under a blur of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder he had been totally incensed, he wanted to grab the idiot and scream at him, what had he thought he was doing?

As he had run away, doing his best to stick with the others, which had categorically failed he got repeated flashes of his eyes, their gazes had locked for less than a second across the hall, he had looked scared, terrified even, and he hadn't given them up. One word from Draco and Fenrir Greyback would have reduced them to body parts but he had kept quiet.

* * *

In some ways it felt like the shortest time ever before it was all over, such a lot had happened it didn't seem real that it could have all passed in one night. Dumbledore was dead, Snape had killed him, the school had been breached.

Yet in other ways, it had felt like the longest time possible. He had been separated from Hermione almost as soon as the battle begun. When it was over he had been helped to his feet by a worse for wear looking Remus Lupin who had insisted Neville go to the Hospital Wing when he had seen his obvious pain in standing. He had declined. There was no way he was getting treated till he found out whether or not she was ok.

He shuffled from hall to hall trying to ignore the sharp pain in his side until he caught sight of her, she was dirty, looked as exhausted as he felt and had all kinds of debris lodged in her hair. Harry was pulled against her side, which would have looked ridiculous given their height differences if it wasn't for the absolute pain written all over Harry's face.

"Neville" she shouted as she saw him and gently passed as shell-shocked Harry over to Ron before running down the corridor towards him and almost jumping up before pulling him into a tight hug. He moaned as the compression hurt something in his side and she darted back quickly, he mourned the loss despite the intense pain.

"What is it? Where are you hurt?" she asked her eyes running over him frantically.

"I'm fine Hermione" he smiled indulgently at her fierce incredulous expression "I promise"

Harry and Ron caught up with them and they all headed to the hospital wing.

* * *

Madam Pomfrey fussed over all of them and they were all thoroughly chastised by the time she was done looking them over, despite his aches and the whole terrible nature of everything that had passed he couldn't help but smile as Hermione was bullied by the motherly matron into having a full examination despite her _constant_ protests that she was absolutely fine.

It made him hope for a time in the future when he would be in that situation, forcing her to go to bed if she was sick, taking care of her if she hurt herself. He couldn't think about the possibility that the war might take that away from him, if he did that then what was he fighting for?

He had a few broken bones, including some of his ribs on his right-hand side, he certainly wouldn't be up and about tomorrow but he had gotten off far more lightly than he should have done, they all had.

* * *

It seemed an age before the lights in the ward were finally dimmed, Bill's injuries had been more serious than most and the sobbing altercation between Mrs Weasley and Fleur Delacour had ensured they were all awake at least an hour longer than they wanted.

Neville had finally managed to find a comfortable spot when he felt the mattress creak next to him. At first, he thought he might have been dreaming it until he definitely registered that one side of the hospital issue blanket was lifted up a smidge.

"Hermione?" he whispered in his softest possible tone.

The cover stilled and he could almost feel her brain whirring in the silence "Yesss" she answered finally.

"What are you doing?" he asked rolling over in the bed to face her, he could barely make her out in the dimmed lights of the infirmary but he was pretty sure she was blushing.

"I'm sorry I'll just…" she dropped the edge of the cover and turned to go.

"No, come back" he called as loud as he would dare and held the cover open to her, he saw her turn, or rather could make out her hair turn and a second later her small form was joining him in the slim hospital bed. Neville willed himself to keep calm and was actually thankful for his injury giving him little opportunity to embarrass himself. They had never laid next to each other before, once they had lounged about in the grass while revising but it hadn't been the same.

Sensing they were both doing their best to not let a single piece of their respective anatomy touch Neville sighed and reached for Hermione's shoulder rolling her into his chest so her head fit underneath his chin, they had another brush with death that night, surely he was allowed a hug with his girlfriend, no one need know how far his mind may wander.

"Madam Pomfrey is going to kill me" he breathed out as he kissed her forehead and he felt more than heard her soft laughter as she shuddered in front of him.

He wrapped his arm around her and held her close "I'm so glad you're safe Hermione, I just kept thinking about...about last time, you have no idea what it was like being next to your bed not knowing if you were going to wake up. I don't think I could do it again"

"Shhh" she soothed, lifting her face to his and kissing along his jaw. Her breath heated his cool flesh and her kisses pulled him from unhappy memories. He moved his arm to her face to be able to meet her mouth and poured all of his love for her into several minutes of kissing which left her breathless and left him painfully aware that he might not have been as injured as he first thought.

When her slim fingers moved to gently run down his chest he faltering let his hand trail from her cheek down her delicate neck to lightly skim her shoulder all encouraged by her quiet moans directly into his ear.

When his hand met her breast over her ribbed pyjama top he was immediately hit by three thoughts of equal importance; firstly she wasn't wearing a bra, second boobs were totally and completely more amazing than he had ever thought before, and he had already ranked them pretty highly and finally he had literally no idea what he should be doing with it now it was resting in his palm.

Whether through instinct or some shower room conversation he had somehow retained he moved his hand back to her shoulder in an effort to push her flat against the bed, everything was going perfectly until he moved, letting loose a fierce groan as pain burst through his side.

The light in the infirmary came on and Hermione reacted instinctively jumping from his cot and standing beside his bed as if she had come over when he called.

"Madam Pomfrey" she called as the Matron hurried over to the "it's Neville, he must have moved in the night or something and it's really hurt him could you take a look?"

She looked so earnest and her eyes were so adorable he was sure the nurse would have been completely fooled if it hadn't been for the reddened bee stung lips, flushed cheeks and wild eyes.

Madam Pomfrey went about examining him and checking his bandages before advising all he really needed was bed rest. As she walked past Hermione's cot she stopped for a moment "Miss Granger I would advise you not leaving your bed again this evening, no matter how _earnestly_ Mr Longbottom may moan"

The flush she gained on her cheeks made him wonder if she had blood left in the rest of her body to perform basic functions. He had thought he had managed to stifle his laughter admirably well until a pillow whacked him full in the face, at that point he lost all pretence of restraint and on one of the worst nights of his life he laughed himself to sleep.


	26. Chapter 26

_A/N hello lovely readers! Thank you to everyone that has reviewed and all of you who have added to various lists. I've been quite focussed on moving this fic along so there should be another update after this at the weekend._

 _Last chapter of year six!_

* * *

 **Year Six Chapter Five**

* * *

Neville was usually really bored when he was at the townhouse, there was never enough to do, there was never any company and his Gran would be on his case.

Right now he would take a year of those summer days over what he was feeling. The holidays had started a month ago and as the weeks had gone by he had been winding himself up into an increasing state of panic his mood falling with every vague letter he received from Hermione.

Something was off. More than the war, more than her fear for all of them, there was something she wasn't saying and it couldn't be good. Initially, her odd tone had caused him to feel a slight insecurity bubbling to the surface, what if it had been him? What if she had wanted to break it off ahead of whatever she was planning for next year? But the letters kept coming, sometimes more than one a day. She started using the coin at night a week ago, they hadn't used them so much for a long time, whenever she contacted him she never had much to say but she seemed to want to prolong the conversation, about nothing it seemed.

He was so highly strung that when his house elf Tip popped into the greenhouse he was working in he dropped the terracotta pot he was holding, the smash rang out into the large space.

"Master Longbottom, Miss Granger is here" he squeaked.

He bent his knees dropping himself to the elf's level "Is she ok?" he asked, he saw the answer in the creature's eyes before he spoke, "where is she?"

"Madam has taken her into the sitting room"

Neville didn't wait for the further conversation he was out of the doors before Tip had even finished speaking, he crossed the threshold of the house not caring that he was still in his apron and muddy boots, his Gran could pitch the fit of her life for all he cared.

As he made it to the door of the sitting room it opened and he stepped back as his Gran came out, he moved to walk in passed her but she placed her hand on his chest and pushed him back while shutting the door, he attempted to crane his head around her to see Hermione but he couldn't.

He turned his gaze to look at his Gran "I need to…"

"Neville listen" she snapped "Hermione has had a _very_ trying day so you are to tread carefully with her is that clear?"

"Yes of course, but what…"

"She will tell you herself" she removed her hand and walked away down the hall.

Neville sucked in a hard breath and pushed the door open, he scanned the room twice before he saw her. She had folded herself down into a chair and her hair was pulled back in a loose attempt at a braid, he approached her quietly fearful of what had caused her to come here unannounced, she never had before but he was glad, glad that she felt this was a place she could come, somewhere that would be safe.

"Hermione?" he said gently moving to kneel in front of her in the chair.

At the sound of his voice tears started to fall from her eyes, she made no move to wipe them away, from the look of her ruddy cheeks she had been crying for a while "Hi" she breathed out, her voice low and thick.

"Hi" he responded softly moving a hand up to brush a curl from her face. He never got as far as touching her hair, as soon as his arm was opened Hermione launched or rather fell into his arms, knocking him back onto his bum, his arms wrapped around her frame instinctively and the touch broke the dam she had built around her emotions like it had so many times before.

Hermione was always able to keep everything bottled up until anyone probed her if he so much as asked her if she was alright when she wasn't the tears would start to fall, he supposed Ron and Harry had always been oblivious to her moods but he had not been. When they had started dating the reaction intensified through touch. If he knew she didn't want to talk about it, he would give her a cuddle and she would cry and get it out of her system he didn't always ask her about it, sometimes they were just little things that she wouldn't want to go into 'you'll think I'm silly' she would say and he would reply that he couldn't see how and she would smile a watery smile all bad feeling forgotten.

But this, this was different. He patted her hair and talked nonsense at her until she was quiet but then… he had to know, he knew the position she was in but he hated all of the secrets between them. More because he suspected she wasn't sharing the burden with anyone.

It took gentle prodding and continuing tender ministrations but eventually the whole story came tumbling out, what she had done to her parents that she had sent them away, wiped all trace of her from their memories. With every line she falteringly spoke Neville held her tighter and tighter to his chest but it never felt close enough.

Finally, she came to a stop and turned her head on his shoulder "Do… do you hate me? For what I… For what I've done" he felt the heat from her tear stained face against his neck, and he breathed a couple of steady breaths to hold back his own emotion before he spoke.

"I could never hate you Hermione, never, but you can't think people will hate you for this?"

"My parents might" she whispered her voice tiny and so broken, so unlike his girl that he barely recognised it.

He looked up to the ceiling "they might not _understand_ , maybe not at first, but they won't hate you Hermione, you are trying to protect them"

Silence fell and when Neville began to get twinges in his back from too long on the unforgiving floor he jostled slightly and Hermione jumped up, he pulled himself to his feet and settled himself on the comfortable sofa pulling Hermione towards him. She laid down on the cushions with her head resting on his lap as he began to card his fingers through her hair, pulling out the fastening to the ineffectual braid.

She must have been tired, her eyes began to falter almost as soon as her head laid down "Why did you come here?"

She stiffened slightly and he cursed himself for his insensitive phrasing he was just about to apologise when she spoke "I don't want Harry and Ron to know, Harry will just blame himself and we don't need that distraction right now" Neville nodded though she couldn't see it, she was nearly asleep when she continued, Neville only just caught the feel of her mouth moving and paused his hand "... needed… you... needed Neville".

He brushed a thumb across her cheek and whispered "go to sleep"

* * *

It was hours later when the sitting room door opened again to omit his Gran, in that time he had summoned a blanket to cover Hermione while she continued to sleep but had not sought to move himself, he was aware that their time was becoming limited and he didn't want her to wake up alone, not after everything that had happened.

"How is she?" his Gran called softly.

"Been asleep for the last few hours, she told you?"

His Gran nodded "I don't think she intended to but she was so worked up by the time she got here it all just came pouring out"

"She wants to keep it a secret"

"That would be wise" he looked up questioningly "what she has done, noble though it may have been is highly illegal if The Ministry were to find…"

"Well they won't will they?" he interrupted suddenly nervous of what could happen to her.

"I doubt it, I gather we are the only people that know and it's best it stays that way. So what now?"

"See said about going to The Burrow it's the wed…"

"Certainly not" his Gran snapped in a muted version of her usual authoritarian tone "in the state she's in with all of those people running around it will sap her energy, the wedding is on Saturday, we can take her there on Friday she stays here till then"

"Thanks Gran"

"I wouldn't thank me yet Neville I intend to make a bed up on the other side of the townhouse, do not make me have to consider warding your doors"

"Yes Gran" he answered cheeks flushing.

* * *

Neville looked around at the fairy lights that were scattered everywhere as he queued up to get himself and his party a drink, it felt nice to think that, that there was a group of them, for so long it had just been him and his Gran but somehow with Hermione she held the promise of something better.

She had stayed with them for four days in the end and that time had galvanised a friendship between Hermione and Augusta that at first pleased Neville to see, however by the end of her stay he had the good sense to be mildly terrified of what an allegiance between those forces could mean.

It was clear the women would not always agree but despite their confrontational past they seemed to hold a level of respect for each other that made their debates more… cordial, than before.

As he made it back over to the table he noticed his Gran was now sat amongst a large crowd of ageing witches with his witch nowhere to be seen, he proffered the drink to his Gran moving away quickly so as not to get sucked into the conversation. As his eyes moved around the room he saw her then, her red dress swaying in the slight breeze talking to a tall dark boy in black robes, he took one step closer before faltering, it was Krum, Viktor Krum.

He paused for a moment to get over himself and then stepped forward, he was a bigger man than that, even if he did double check to make sure Hermione was wearing her pendant. It looked beautiful on her tonight, she hadn't taken it off since he had given it to her, but normally it would rest under school robes or ratty jumpers, today he could see it lying against her skin, and if he could so could everyone else.

When he got to her side he passed over her drink and she turned to beam at him, he stepped forward to shake Viktor's hand and made some polite if slightly awkward conversation before he asked Hermione to dance.

They didn't speak for several moments. He spent the time drinking her in, she clearly spent the time working herself up to something, he could feel it in the tension in her back and shoulders and the slight frizzing of her hair "What is it Hermione?" he asked straight into her ear.

She huffed out a little laugh "how did you know?" he said nothing just raised his eyebrows expectantly, they had spoken about her mission of sorts, well as much as she would tell him. He had been angry at first but he knew she didn't want to tell him out of some sense of protection rather than exclusion "it's time, I don't know how long we have but it's time, we can't wait until the beginning of the school year they will have come to find us by then"

Neville swallowed down his questions and his protests, _this was happening_ he didn't want their last conversation to be an argument "what will we do while you're away?"

"Stay safe" she whispered at him "and we will have the coins, it would probably be best not to use them too often just in case of detection but we can get messages to each other"

He pulled her closer and laid his cheek on the top of her hair "When will you be back?"

"When it's done"

Any further conversation was cut off by the smoky white portunus of Kingsley Shacklebolt declaring that the Ministry had fallen, he had so much he wanted to say but there was no time he pressed a fierce kiss to her forehead before she ran to grab Harry he watched her until the two had met with Ron, she mouthed that she loved him and then she was gone, popped into thin air like she had never existed in the first place.

* * *

As he lined up with the rest of The Order members that had stayed to protect The Burrow and faced down the Death Eater forces something inside Neville snapped, if they wanted a war they would get one.

* * *

 _A/N so, unfortunately, they will now be apart for at least the next chapter, so now we trudge into year seven._


	27. Chapter 27

_A/N thank you to all of you reading this fic, while this is still very much on the fluffy end of the spectrum advanced warning that the next couple of chapters are going to be a little darker as Neville is facing life with Death Eaters at Hogwarts I had forgotten how much I hate The Carrows._

* * *

 **Year Seven Chapter One**

* * *

Five days.

For five days after the wedding he waited for news from Hermione.

When 'NEV' had _finally_ appeared, following the heating of the surface of the silver coin that hadn't left his palm since he had lost sight of her, he had nearly fallen over himself in his haste to reply.

MINE?

WE R SAFE

He stared at the abbreviated letters for a long time letting the knots in his body unwind themselves, he knew better than to ask where they were so he settled with asking if she was okay. There was only so much that could be achieved over such a small amount of letters but she was safe, and that was all that mattered for now.

* * *

As Neville called one of the Death Eaters on the train an idiot he should have felt fearful, all he really had was anger. In the last few months, last year in fact, despite the terror all around them he had been happy, he had felt for the first time that he had a really good chance to belong with someone, someone who would help him build a _real_ family. Now because of this war, because of this pointless divide over nothing he was separated from her, she was not safe because of it. They had taken his parents and now they had taken her.

That anger got him through the first day, the endless train journey where he sat with Ginny and Luna and they all pretended like everything was fine. It would be their last chance to do so.

It got him through the welcome feast where the students sat in total silence while the first years were sorted. He ignored the Carrow's as much as possible and instead busied himself with making introductions with every new Gryffindor on the table.

It was so quiet you could hear the scrape of cutlery against the plates, the atmosphere so thick he felt a weight on his chest. He didn't give into those feelings, not once, not with the little faces looking up at him he couldn't let them down.

* * *

It didn't take long for things to come to a head. Amycus Carrow had been made Dark Arts Professor with a ridiculous curriculum and his sister Alecto took over what had been Muggle Studies. Neither were particularly bright but they made up for it with their incredible cruelty.

He had been in his latest Dark Arts lesson trying to tune out the sound of Amycus' droning voice when the door crashed open and Alecto strolled in with three terrified second years in her wake. They looked to be moving strangely, at first Neville thought it was their fear making them rigid but then he noticed the bindings. By the way the thick ropes were twined around their hands and feet they looked to be cutting into the flesh.

They wanted them punished, some invented infraction or other. The brother and sister spent any time they weren't 'teaching' patrolling the corridors looking for students to torment.

"Excellent" Amycus beamed, his broad smile displaying his yellowing crooked teeth before he turned to face the class "it looks like we have some _volunteers_ for you to practise the Cruitas Curse on"

Neville's heart raised into his throat as he watched the colour drain from everyone's faces.

"Let's see" Alecto called out "how about, Longbottom?" her smirk was as disturbing as her brothers but Neville fought to raise his head and stare back at her impassively. He had become something of a target since coming back, his Gran was a renegade in pureblood circles and their stance on the war was no secret to anyone. So far he had only been subjected to stray hexes and the occasional 'accidental contact' as he walked along the corridors but now, he knew this was going to be worse.

From the very way the twins were standing it was clear this had all been planned, there was too much expectation on their faces for him to think otherwise. He palmed his wand and squared his jaw "No" his voice was loud and clear and brought the eyes of everyone in the room onto him.

Three more times they told him, three more times he refused.

He kept his face neutral while his brain whirled over what he could do. He had gotten pretty good at defence and last few years and he was certain that he could hold his own against one of the twins, both might be a problem. He had watched them over the last few weeks, their skill level wasn't high but they were very aware of each other, rumours that Neville did not want to linger on to long supporting that, it meant they would probably be very capable duelling side by side.

And anyway it wasn't like he could win, what then? He wouldn't get two feet out of the classroom before he was apprehended. But he wasn't going to do it, it wouldn't have even been an option to try. He sighed internally as he knew what was coming, he hoped somehow by standing up to them it would trigger something in the students, they could all do with a little hope.

* * *

He thought about hope later, hope seemed red to his mind, as he lay on his back panting on the floor of the classroom, while his forehead broke into a sweat he imagined the girl in the bright red dress; saw how she disappeared from view _to safety_ , how her lips had looked when she had mouthed I love you before everything had faded to black.

* * *

He made it back to the common room that evening after Madam Pomfrey had given him a potion to help with the aftershocks. The nurse had looked on the verge of tears the whole time and in the end Neville pulled her into a hug, she must have seen a lot in the last few weeks and had very little control over any of it.

It the teachers acted too strongly in their defence they would be gotten rid of and that would mean death rather than wounding. As he handed a handkerchief to the nurse he wondered if this was how Harry and Hermione always felt, having to put your head up even though you were terrified.

When he had stumbled in through the portrait hole it was to find what remained of the Gryffindor contingent of the DA sitting silently, there was no question they were in wait for him.

He shuffled in and sat on a chair letting his limbs adjust to a new angle, it hurt a lot, but it was manageable. Moody may have been a Death Eater in disguise but he had taught them one correct thing that year, you had to really mean the curses to inflict damage. He had no doubt that the Carrow's wanted to hurt them but definitely not to the same level Bellatrix Lestrange had. At the Department of Mysteries he had only been held under the curse for a few seconds and it had felt like his skin was being melted from his bones, while today's experience had hardly been a massage it had been.. livable. Which was a good thing as he was certain it wouldn't be the first time.

When no one spoke he got to his feet, he really needed to sleep and as much as they would all want reassuring he didn't have it in him right then "we train tomorrow" he muttered before climbing up the stairs to be alone with the coin that would no doubt remain cool.


	28. Chapter 28

_A/N thank you to everyone who reads this fic, again advanced warning - Neville is having a bit of a rough time this chapter._

* * *

 **Year Seven Chapter Two**

* * *

The first term of every new school year was an odd one, the castle would be full of students still trying to learn their way around the castle and grounds, the older years would need to look down wherever they went to avoid tripping over some first year that had got stuck in a moment of awe. It had been really annoying.

Until now.

Now they went everywhere marching in rows. When the DA had covertly reformed Neville had gone into the room of requirement expecting to find the same twenty or so people, less whoever had not made it back that year.

There were seventy.

He had let himself become overwhelmed for just a second and then he sprung into action, the first order of business was that no one went anywhere alone, the corridors just weren't safe anymore. Greater numbers meant less chance of being picked on, it didn't mean you were safe but it increased your odds. That's all any of them could do at the moment. They couldn't stop the dice from rolling but they endeavoured to load them in their favour.

* * *

Things got infinitely worse after the Christmas Holiday.

Though it had never been his favourite time of year he was looking forward to a couple of weeks reprieve from the rough regime at the castle, he wondered how many of the students would come back, where they would go if they did not. Right now there didn't seem to be anywhere left to turn.

Then they took Luna.

When they got off at King's Cross he had been distracted by his Gran, she stood there waiting for him stoic and unruffled as ever but it was her eyes, she looked so weary, it was an unusual expression for her and he found himself trying to find the words to find out what had been going on and then he heard them.

There were Death Eaters with some Ministry bods at the end of the platform, they wrestled two squirming children away. Luna just walked up to them introducing herself, slowly raising her arms up and out for the cuffs they were holding, despite her compliance she was grabbed roughly by the back of her hair and then the group apparated away long before Neville could do anything.

When he made it back to the castle enough time had passed for the Carrows to identify him as a ringleader in the recent displays of disobedience. The vehemence of his punishments began to intensify and much as it wrangled him he knew that being out in the open was likely to get himself killed, making a hard decision he hid in the room of requirement, it was a week before there were ten permanent residents.

* * *

He couldn't bring himself to tell Hermione about what was going on, he was sure wherever she was she had enough to worry about without him ladling on stop. He knew her and Harry well enough to assume that had he said anything they would both insist on coming back to help. Harry would see it as his duty and she would follow. He was aware of the lay of the land enough to know that would have been suicide.

On Boxing Day he had pointed to his coin and prayed to Merlin she would answer MRY XMAS MINE

The coin heated up almost immediately and he almost jumped back in surprise I LOV U N

I LOVE U TO he sent back urgently and then a moment later EVRYTHG OK?

It was a ridiculous question and they both knew it but they went through the motions each time.

YEST BAD his chest constricted for a moment until the coin heated again BTR NOW

 _Oh Hermione_ , he thought to himself, _why must you be such a terrible liar?_

* * *

A month after they had been back a school Ginny came to find him, he was reviewing a charms textbook to study the work Hermione had done on the coins, it would have been really useful to have them for the new members. Currently they were relying on those that still had them whispering messages to others in a pre-established chain, they changed the order each week to avoid detection as much as possible. The book wasn't much help, he had already spoken to a couple of the others who said they weren't able to do it.

He was just giving in to his latest sigh when the red head appeared sitting next to him, she looked twitchy and he shut his book softly waiting to hear whatever she had to say.

"Neville" she started a moment later "I have something to tell you but you're not going to like it"

 _What a surprise_ , he thought, _when was the last time anyone gave me some good news?_ His flippancy dissolved when he turned to look at her, she was trembling, though whether through upset or anger he wasn't sure there seemed to be so many emotions rattling across her face.

"Ginny?" he prodded.

"When I went home for Christmas… Ron… Ron was there"

"What?" he asked not understanding, how was that possible?

"I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, I didn't know how to mention it and he... well it was pretty terrible, Dad was completely furious with him and even Mum barely spoke in his defence…"

"Why was he there?" he asked his tone calmer than he felt.

"I don't know the whole story, he was already there when I got back, overheard something about them not needing him" Neville's hands curled into fists, Ginny noticed and placed her hand on his arm "Neville listen, I know Ron can be…. while I was there he was really upset, whatever may have happened at first I'm sure he regrets it"

"Yeah? Not as much as Hermione and Harry I'm sure" his tone was bitter and he was fighting down the urge to hex something.

"I heard him cry Neville….at night… he kept apologising to her over and over"

Neville shut his eyes then willing himself to calm down, there were just two of them now, two seventeen-year-olds with the biggest price on their head imaginable carrying out some unthinkable task. The odds were already stacked against them as it was.

Ginny moved to lay her head on his shoulder "he told me they were as well as could be expected" he noticed the thickness of her voice and he remembered then, he wasn't the only one desperate to hear any news. He moved his arm to wrap it around Ginny's shoulder "there living in a tent, Hermione must have taken the one we used for the world cup. Dad got a bit teary at that, said he should have known she would find a way to keep them all safe"

"A tent?... In December" Neville breathed out, more words wouldn't come.

"They will come back Neville, they have to" he nodded against her head "even if it's just for Hermione to show us how to do this bloody charm" she tried to joke, her heart wasn't really in it but he chuckled all the same, anything to stop his brain from dwelling on his witch freezing in a tent, out in the open with the whole world against her.

* * *

By the time the room of requirement made its way up to twenty-five full-time occupants they needed a new plan for provisions.

Desperation made Neville take the bold or more likely idiotic decision to attempt to get into Hogsmeade, it was safer to try this than another covert trip to the kitchens, perfect though they would have been the room of requirement was too far away from them and he now believed without question if he was discovered he was dead.

He made it successfully into the town, the sight of which shocked him, much as Diagon Alley had been when he had reluctantly gone to buy school supplies the tiny village was a shadow of its former self. Doors were boarded up and windows were smashed and there wasn't a soul around. Only a few of the buildings remained open, thankfully his destination was one of them.

He walked around the back of the Hog's Head, deserted or not it wasn't the best idea to get caught walking right through the main door, he knocked gently trying to ignore the piercing gazes of the goats that were penned outside.

During one of his conversations with his Gran over Christmas she had told him to come to Aberforth if he needed anything. The man had been a member of The Order during the first war. Neville had held back a lot of information on life at the school, he didn't want her to worry, it was clear she knew much of it anyway.

When the large gruff man answered the door Neville threw himself at his mercy. When he had finished his plea for help Aberforth got up without saying a word returning with two large baskets full of food and a small tin case. When Neville glanced at it the landlord spoke for the first time.

"Potions, gather you'll be needing some healing ones"

Neville nodded "Thank you for this I, we really app…"

Aberforth waved him off cutting short his thanks, he quickly shrunk everything down and made to head in the direction he came when a firm hand was placed upon his shoulder "come with me"

Aberforth led him into the back room of the pub, the space was much cleaner and tidier than the main room though the furnishings were fairly sparse. The large man walked towards a painting that dominated the back wall, it was floor to ceiling in height and its sole occupant was a beautiful girl with long strawberry blonde hair. Aberforth whispered to her and her face broke into a broad smile before she nodded eagerly.

"Come here lad" he called over his shoulder and Neville hastened to comply "this is Ariana, she will take you back to the castle come with her when you need to come back"

"I will, thank you so much" his shoulders sagged in relief at not having to face the high street again, it was too open too quiet for him to feel safe.

Aberforth looked uncomfortable for a second "no need to thank me, I owe more than one life debt to your Gran" Neville's eyes widened "don't look so surprised she saved my miserable hide more than once during the first war"

Neville had never seen his Gran duel, had never even seen her use defensive magic before, the thought of her being able to handle herself was incredibly comforting "thank you for telling me that, I've been… worried"

Aberforth laughed and it shocked him so much he jumped back "Sorry sorry" the man placed a conciliatory hand on his upper arm "you won't know this, and I don't want to scare you but you should know, The Ministry sent an auror to your townhouse two weeks ago, they wanted more compliance from her, sent Dawlish who's a miserable bastard and coming from me you can imagine what that means, anyway long story short he is currently in St Mungo's"

"Where.. Where is she now?" he asked desperately.

Aberforth became serious, she's on the run officially but I know she is tucked away in an order safe house, she will be fine lad, now be away with you I have stuff to be getting on with"

* * *

By mid march there were forty people in the room of requirement, they had magically extended the space twice and hammocks hung from every possible point. Neville was lying back in his thinking about the plan for the next day he had to make a trip to see Aberforth again with their increased numbers they were rapidly getting through food.

Thoughts of hunger made him think of Hermione, he wondered if she was getting enough to eat, enough sleep with no one there to tell her off if she wasn't.

He reached into his pocket to pull out the coin, he had only spoken to her a couple of days before but his need to confirm her safety grew larger with every passing day. If it hadn't been so perilous in the castle with so many depending on him he would have demanded she tell him her location and he would have gone to find her.

He twirled the slim metal between his fingers for a moment before sending a message;

MINE?

There was no response, it happened sometimes she was busy and couldn't always pull out the coin to respond.

Hours later and the coolness of the metal was eating at him, he tried again;

MINE?

* * *

By the third day without response Neville had become a little unhinged, he wasn't sleeping and was barely eating, his hands shook with exhaustion and suppressed rage and he eyed the mocking silver that was in his palm almost constantly.

It was on that third day that Ginny came and tried to talk him round, her words should have been comforting _no response could be good news_ , she said, _they might be onto something and they can't reply_ , her gentle tone should have soothed him but her body betrayed her.

The slump in her shoulders and the blank expression in her eyes pointed to her having no more faith than he did that everything would be ok.

* * *

He had been sending messages almost constantly, that was what he did, he sat and he stared at the coin and sent messages, MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE, MINE.

On the fourth day after he had just sent a message the coin heated so strongly it almost burnt his hand, he was convinced he had imagined it having wished for it so hard he had dreamt it into being.

He glanced down at the object he had come to loathe and slumped when he saw the words printed boldly on its surface.

NEV

...

IM ALIVE


	29. Chapter 29

_A/N thank you for all of your lovely feedback over the last couple of chapters. Fanfic is currently doing that thing where I cannot respond to reviews but I still recieve them so... review away :)_

* * *

 **Year Seven Chapter Three**

* * *

In the weeks following the scare with Hermione time began to drag, they had now filled the room of requirement with as many students as possible, though they would never turn anyone away something was going to have to give soon.

Himself and Hermione had communicated as much as was possible over the little coins, which he came to realise was not very much at all, Hermione hadn't told him what had happened in any detail, just that something had gone wrong and now she was _recovering_ that word had stuck with Neville as not being totally reassuring.

But they were getting closer, she had said, closer to what he had no idea but even if she hadn't said it he would have known. Considering how little time he spent outside of the room it was still enough to pick up on the increasingly palpable atmosphere of the castle.

It was the calm before the storm, one way or another the end was coming.

* * *

He was woken by the soft whispering of his name, he shook off the residual clinging of his nightmare to find Ariana gesturing wildly for him to follow her, Aberforth must have wanted him to grab the latest round of supplies before he had any patrons.

He tapped Ginny awake on his way through telling her where he was going, she was unofficially his number two, not that the operation of sitting in a room needed a second command but it had given her something to do and helped her take her mind off Harry and Neville was more than happy to share the burden.

When he stepped into the portrait it was only to have Arianna almost throw him into the tunnel behind, Aberforth must have been pushed for time this morning. As he walked through the dusty path he could navigate in his sleep he braced himself for any more news that might be relayed, as well as providing food Aberforth had been passing on any information he got from The Order, unfortunately by the time he would get it the news would already be several weeks out of date and things were changing daily.

He opened the portrait on the other end cautiously stepping into the back room of the Hogs Head blinking, his eyes struggling to adjust even to the muted light in the dingy room from the darkness of the tunnel.

"Neville?" he heard a strangled gasp in a too familiar voice, he whipped his head around and it was her, Hermione was standing just feet away from him, it took him a moment for his legs to begin to walking but when they did he rushed over to scoop her up, oblivious to anything he came into contact with, and crushed her to his front, he pushed his face into the side of her neck and felt the wonderful irritation of her hair attacking the skin on his face. She smelt of soot and all her clothes were faintly damp but he didn't care, didn't care about much at all in that moment, he moved one arm to brace around her frame while the other ran over her back and arms mindless to their audience he just had to know she was real.

He was shook from his moment by Harry helping a grumbling Ron up from the floor "easy Nev" the ginger chastised as he dusted himself off, Neville snapped his neck up to look at him through narrowed eyes "shove off Weasley if I get through today me and you are going to be having a chat" he called over Hermione's shoulder.

His eyes dropped to Harry who looked uncomfortable at their display but Neville couldn't have cared less, Hermione wriggled as if wanting to be put down and he held her tighter again "Hermione please, just a little bit longer okay?" her only response was to pull her arms tighter around his neck.

"Is it time?" he asked to the room at large.

Harry nodded "it ends today"

* * *

Despite an additional protest from Hermione he carried her all the way down the tunnel that led back to the room of requirement, there were many reasons he was so insistent, apart from obviously wanting to hold her he knew what was coming, what if this was it? Also having his arms occupied meant he wouldn't resort to punching Ron in the face.

The room of requirement predictably erupted when they got back, Ginny pulled Harry into something of a show-stopping snog in front of everyone, his messy haired friend didn't look so uncomfortable with public displays now.

When he finally set Hermione down, with great reluctance, he immediately grabbed both sides of her face "You are so light, too light… what happened?... when I couldn't reach you with the coin I..."

She sucked in a large breath "I need to tell you this properly, Harry is going to want to start…."

"And I will hear all of the specifics and I won't even _interrupt_ but now I need a name" Hermione's eyes filled with tears and his throat went dry "names?"

She nodded just once and rough motion was enough to dislodge the water pooling in her eyes, he gently wiped it away with the pads of his thumbs and bent slightly to meet her face "whatever happened Hermione I will love you until I no longer draw breath do you understand"

"Yes" she whispered, and he straightened to lay a kiss amongst her curls that were in as much disarray as the rest of her, he almost missed the words she spoke against the flesh of his neck.

"Say that again"

He felt Hermione's head fall forward till her forehead rested under his chin, her words spoken feeling like kisses against his collarbone "Scabior, Fenrir and… and Bella"

* * *

It wasn't long after they had all split up, Ron and Hermione had something to finish to do with their mission and Professor McGonagall had sent him with Seamus and Dean to the covered bridge, they were vastly outnumbered and trying to eliminate entries points to leave them less exposed to a surprise attack.

The snatchers were already on the end of the bridge, chaos ensued pretty quickly, Neville and Dean did the best they could to hold them off while Seamus worked on destabilising the wooden structure.

As he regarded Scabior's smirking face he felt the anger well inside him, he looked down to see his dirty fingers clutched around his wand and his mind supplied an image of them around her delicate neck. He fought harder then, firing curse after curse in the snatchers direction. Scabior was good, better than he had anticipated in fact, he got a couple of good hits on Neville one of them on his right leg making it twist around until he heard a bone crack.

He was so lost in his rage that when Seamus called for them to pull back he ignored him, determined to wipe the smile off the other man's face, eventually running out of time Dean dragged him back to the safety of the hill and Seamus set it all off, the bridge gave a violent tremor, once, twice, before exploding into pieces the size of matchsticks. Neville collapsed back on the ground casting a weak Episkey at his leg, healing charms had never been a strength of his, it wouldn't be totally healed but he would be able to walk on it.

* * *

He was back in castle cutting through the Great Hall when he saw his Gran, her hair was ruffled and there were smudges down the front of her dark robes, compared to everyone else she looked immaculate but considering he had barely seen her with a hair out of place ever the look was alarming.

"Do shut you mouth Nevile your catch flies" she leant forward pressing her fingers to his head, they came away bloody, he had no idea he had even got a cut "hold still" he felt a soft pulse of magic as she healed him "are you hurt anywhere else?"

"Nowhere life threatening"

She nodded "and Hermione?" she enquired looking so pained Neville wondered what news she had.

"She's here" he said reassuringly.

"I heard…"

"I don't know all of the details but she was taken by snatchers and then… Bella" he finished softly

Something flashed across her eyes quickly but it was gone before Neville could assess it, they had a few more moments of dodging spell fire to talk and then they proceeded in different directions.

* * *

He threw himself back into the fighting with renewed vigour after the success of the bridge collapse, though he would have had to be blind to miss that things were not going as well inside the castle, the reality was the vast majority of those fighting were school children, even the ones that had spent time in the DA were no threat to a Death Eater with battled honed reflexes from two wars.

Ron's scream of anguish tore through the air and he turned to see him launching himself after Fenrir Greyback, he chased after him, he would be no match for the werewolf on his own.

As the duel began it didn't seem like they would be any match for him as the two of them but there was a hard glint in Ron's eyes that told Neville he wasn't giving up, as two of their shots fired and collided at the same time Fenrir was knocked back into an already smashed window pain, they left him there impaled amongst the jagged glass.

Ron's reason for distress was evident when the two boys doubled back on themselves to find Hermione draped over Lavender's prone body, Ron let out a small whimper as he saw the hand that she had against her throat and Hermione turned "its alright Ron, she's hurt but she's fighting, we need to get Madam Pomfrey"

* * *

The next time he saw Hermione the blood on her skin was her own.

It had taken three of them but they had been able to stun Avery Snr and get him in a full body bind, they had Levitated the Death Eater to the back of The Great Hall where anyone else they had managed to capture was, their hostage made it five, it wasn't a lot to show for the hours of fighting that had already gone on before.

That's when he had seen her, well he had heard her first, Bella's voice rang out, her demented cooing baby talk echoing around the hall "come on now little mudblood don't you want to play? you liked it so so much last time… maybe I'll give you a reminder" bile rose in his throat. There, across the room was Hermione being preyed upon by Bellatrix, the mad witch was sending minor cutting hexes to Hermione's face and arms, she was doing her best to shield but she must have been completely terrified as the sheened bubble around her kept faltering.

As Bellatrix cast her first Crucio he was held up in his flight across the room by Selwyn landing in the middle of the hall and shooting off a quick round of hexes to devastating effect, when he managed to get closer he would have broken into a run but he was held back by Molly Weasley, his Gran had got to Bella first.

There was no duel, no shouting of famous last words or parting insults, when Bella turned around to face Augusta and made a mock bow in derision his Gran regarded her with the softest look he had ever seen on the woman's face, it reflected all that she had lost that night when the aurors had come to report what had happened to her son and his wife, it reflected the life of a woman whose family still breathed but no longer had any sense of self, it reflected years of having the person you cherished more than anyone on this earth look back at you without recognition, it reflected the Grandmother who lost a son she did not bury, instead she raised his boy, a boy that grew into the carbon copy of his father. Her eyes hardened as she saw Hermione backed against the wall trembling and bleeding her tougher look said that she refused to let history use the same hand to repeat the anguish it had already dealt.

"I have waited a long time to meet you Bella" she said dispassionately as the green curse flew and the wicked witch crumpled to the ground.

* * *

When Voldemort's sickly hiss rumbled around the castle Neville and his Gran pulled Hermione to the benches where people were getting help, his Gran healed her lip while repeatedly asking her questions on potions, dates, transfiguration and names until Hermione's hand shot up to circle the older woman's wrist "Augusta, I'm fine I promise… no lasting effects"

His Gran nodded jerkily and carried on healing the slices to her face and hands, Neville took the chance to move through the crowds helping carry the dead into the room.

When he saw Fred he laid a hand on Ginny's shoulder and squeezed tightly before walking away from the grieving family to check on Lavender for Ron.

As he stepped away Harry followed looking slightly manic but it didn't strike Neville as odd given the day they were all having "when it all starts up again Neville you have to make sure we kill the snake"

Neville looked back at Harry he had no idea why he would make that request but from the grim expression he was certainly serious "Ok Harry of course"

"Great thanks Neville"

Harry roughly shoved something at him and turned away quickly, when Neville looked down he had the sorting hat between his fingers. He regarded it slowly having not touched it since his first year, he wasn't sure being sorted was going to help their situation.

A moment later he heard Hermione scream "where is Harry?"


	30. Chapter 30

_A/N shorter chapter this time, but 'Neville's moment' didn't easily fit into the chapter before or after._

* * *

 **Year Seven Chapter Four**

* * *

Their chances had always been slim, they had all known that. But the children of their generation had been brought up on fairy stories and works of fiction, and in those comforting tales the side of the light always won. In those tales good vanquished evil and the brave and the pure could go on living their lives in the way they were supposed to.

Watching Hagrid carry Harry's body was a blow, 'the-boy-who-lived' had been their talisman for the longest time, more than that he had been Neville's friend. With his lifeless form being held aloft Neville watched hope dissolve in people's eyes around him, he felt himself stand taller, they may not win, but it wasn't over.

When Voldemort began screaming at them to come forward to join him, he pushed Hermione slightly into his Gran and looked directly into the face of the woman who was the closest thing he had to a parent, the woman who had raised him "whatever happens don't let her go" he said softly, his Gran held his gaze but nodded reluctantly and Neville began to slowly move through the ranks in front of the castle. His steps were labored, his leg had not done too well under repeated strain following his shoddy repair.

"Well I had hoped for better" Voldemort chortled derisively as Neville made it the open space between warring factions, he stood still as the Dark Lord's gaggle of simpering follows laughed with him.

He fought to look upon the cruel twisted face of the most powerful wizard of all time impassively, he drew himself up and held his shoulders back and tried to remember what everything he had lived for up to this point had been about, _hope_.

He had hoped for years that his parents would get better, that he would be better, that he would make his Gran happy. He had hoped that Hermione would be his friend, that she would love him back, that she would give him a family. He had stood in the face of continual torture giving those younger than him a reason to hope, a reason to think that maybe things would get better, Harry hadn't been at Hogwarts that year but he had.

He cleared his throat and spoke as loud as his voice would go, he wanted it to carry to both sides of the battlefield "you killed one of us, and we will grieve but there are hundreds more, hundreds of those that will stand against you and fight. You're supposed to be the most powerful wizard of our time and yet you were systematically and routinely bested in your endeavors by children. You can kill every single one of us and it won't be over, while the hope survives so will the fight"

He felt the effects of his words instantaneously, the Death Eater forces looked enraged and Voldemort himself practically buzzed with anger, but behind him, he could feel it more, the somber veil had lifted slightly he could feel the energy from them, they were preparing to ensure they didn't go down easy.

Three curses hit him in swift succession; he was placed in a full body-bind, the sorting hat was wrenched onto his head and the old relic was set on fire. He could hear Hermione screaming but he tuned it out, instead he thought about the time she had done this to him, thought about how mad he had been at her, his face broke into a smile and he shut his eyes.

* * *

Because of his flare for dramatics Harry Potter had made the top of his 'to punch' list after the battle, though his irritation was mitigated as he had released him from the full body bind.

Jumping up while he still had a chance he pulled the indignant hat from his head and ran for the snake that was making its way towards the castle, an illumination from inside the aging fabric caught his attention and he grabbed the hilt of the sword just as the nagini lunged for him. As the great black snake reared her head up, mouth widening to reveal her sharp fangs he unsheathed the sword gripping it with both hands and using the weight of the metal to swing the blade through the air.

As the very dead snake's head hit the floor he heard Voldemort scream, an inhuman shriek that traveled across the entire battlefield.

"Sorry" he said raising a single hand "I thought you said you'd hoped for better"


	31. Chapter 31

_A/N this chapter is for all the little broken Hermione's that I have written, and for all the ones I will write in the future._

* * *

 **The End...**

* * *

After Neville had been to the infirmary to have someone far more competent than himself see to his mangled leg he went in search of Hermione and his Gran. Madam Pomfrey had asked if he wanted to stay and get the rest of himself seen to, really he could have done with it, he was fairly sure he had a few more broken bones as well as some nasty cuts but he wanted to get out of here. The last year had been hard on all of them and the castle had lost a lot of its innate feeling of safety, plus his Gran had raised his father and then him, and she didn't get through that without becoming fairly proficient with healing charms.

* * *

He saw her there like he always did, he wondered if as they grew older he would still be able to pinpoint Hermione's presence even in a vast and crowded room, he hoped so.

His eyes scanned her too slight frame and dirty face and he felt his heart clench. How long would they have to suffer after today before they would be okay again? Would they ever be?

As he walked towards her he took in her tense shoulders, that's when he noticed the people around her, the Weasley's were all standing in a group with his witch a little way behind, she didn't seem to know what to do with herself and looked as if she would bite through her abused lip if she didn't relent soon.

Slowly, so as not to startle her he pulled his arms around her, pushing her hair away from her face "it's over Hermione" he breathed into her ear. Her little body trembled in his grasp and banded an arm around her tightly "breathe, it will be ok, I need to find my Gran and then get out of here" she stiffened in his hold and he looked down at her questioningly "what is it?"

She looked over at the grieving family of redheads and then in the general direction some of the teachers were standing in before turning her head back to him but looking resolutely at the floor.

"Hermione?" he questioned.

"I.. don't… I don't have anywhere to go" she whispered, almost as if she was embarrassed.

"Nonsense" a stern voice interjected, and both heads swept around to face Augusta who had some time between Voldemort falling to the ground and this very moment managed to regain her steely resolve "you are coming back with us"

"But.. I.." Hermione stumbled her eyes filling with tears.

His Gran looked down at her and cupped her cheek "you are family Hermione and you are coming _home_ "

"Thank you" she choked out letting a few tears fall.

* * *

When they got back to the townhouse Neville felt himself relax in a way he couldn't while he was still at the castle, he was home they weren't in danger anymore, they had survived.

Hermione was being chided up the stairs by his Gran edging her towards a bathroom, he would have called her off but honestly, he thought she was in need of a little mothering. He followed them up the stairs and he was sent off to get something she could wear for afterwards, he rummaged through his clothes looking for something that might work. She was so tiny all his things would dwarf her but he like the idea of her wearing his clothes so he pulled out a t-shirt and some loose trousers that he transfigured, they didn't look great but they would do till he could get some of her own things.

He walked back to the bathroom just in time to hear the water shut off behind the door.

"Right there you go, towels are over here and there's a…"

"Would you stay with me?... I just… I'm not very… I don't like being on my own… not at the moment"

There was silence for the briefest moment "Of course I will"

He could hear the sound of clothes being removed and water displacement and then something that registered like a muffled sob.

"Bellatrix she…" his Gran started.

"Yes" Hermione interjected, her voice thick.

"Well, we can go to a healer and get it looked at and then you know it will be right as rain" his Gran's voice sounded strangled.

"It was a… a cursed blade" Hermione replied, her voice trailing off.

"Oh Hermione, I am so sorry"

Neville slumped down the door and listened as Hermione let go of everything that had happened to her, she told his Gran everything from The Ministry, Ron leaving, Godric's Hollow and the finally the snatchers. He was pleased he could say he'd been there when Scabior and Fenrir died, maybe it would help alleviate some of her fears knowing they were both no more.

When she spoke about the time at the Manor her breathing was low and her voice soft but he could still hear every word, thick tears ran down his cheeks unchecked but he marvelled at her along with his grief, all of this had happened, she'd survived.

"... I lost myself for a moment… when I couldn't remember how long it had been going on for… I thought I was loosing my mind… and then… and then I felt this hot sensation in my pocket, it kept pulsating and cooling and then would get hot again and then I remembered… it took me ages but I did... I remembered…. Neville and... our coins... and that, he was waiting and I knew what it would do to him if… if something happened to me… especially something like that, in the same way…"

Once the talking died down he could hear sloshing in the room, he dragged himself up onto his feet handing over the clothes swiftly when the door opened, his Gran looked at his reddened face but said nothing before going back inside the room.

* * *

After her bath, Neville had got cleaned up himself while Tip ran around after Hermione like an excitable puppy.

She had fallen asleep in a chair by the fire in the sitting room when he got back downstairs and Neville had been content to watch her.

Presumably, his Gran had gone off to wash the day away also, an hour or so after he had come in himself his Gran walked in taking a seat next to him, opposite the sleeping girl in the chair.

"You picked well" he didn't say anything he wasn't sure she had been expecting a response. Tip appeared with the tea tray and after placing it down went over to Hermione's chair to readjust her blanket for the third time in an hour all the while glancing over his shoulder at Neville as if daring him to say anything about his attentions.

His Gran poured them both a tea and they settled into the quiet for a moment;

"You did us proud today Neville" He started at the soft words breaking the silence and it took him a moment to take in what had actually been said "but then I suppose you always have" his Gran continued.

He turned wide-eyed to regard his Gran, she wasn't looking at him, her eyes fixed into the middle distance "your father was the greatest accomplishment of my life. I had been bright at school and I suppose I could have done things afterwards but at the time… anyway I was expected to marry and so that's what I did"

She took a long sip of her tea and Neville put his cup down with shaky fingers.

"When they came for me that night to tell me what happened I had already buried my husband, I wanted to climb into bed and not get out, but they handed over you and suddenly I realised I was _expected_ to keep going. I wasn't that great at first, I know that… when I think back now at all those things I let happen, when they all thought you might be a squib…. I think I hoped in some small way that you might be one…"

Neville's head darted towards her unfocused face, he noticed a single tear had moved from the corner of her eye but had no idea how best to comfort her, she had never given any indication that she needed it before so the action would be unpractised.

"That way you would have been safe, I could have kept you here in the house.. But it wasn't to be. Then you went to school and got sorted into Gryffindor, made friends with a little girl on the train and made friends that would put you right in the centre of The Order if… when… the fighting started again, it was all happening again"

"Then you looked so much like _him_ , I'd catch you in moments where you would be deep in concentration or you would be trying to tell me about Hermione without betraying your feelings and you looked so much like _him_ I…"

Neville felt a thousand words caught in his throat, the desire to push something out almost burned, a sound broke the tense silence and he looked up as Hermione stirred in her sleep and her face set into a pained expression.

"Neville, take her upstairs" his Gran said, all sign of previous emotion washed away "she won't want to be alone" Neville looked at her eyebrows disappearing into his hairline "oh don't look at me like that, if you're old enough to kill the familiar of the Dark Lord in front of his assembled army I dare say you are old enough to have your girlfriend in your room"

* * *

He carried Hermione upstairs and she never stirred, not once. He considered transfiguring her borrowed clothes into something more comfortable but decided against it, she had already been asleep and he didn't want to disturb her.

Changing and climbing in next to her the weight of the day and the last few months together fell onto him all at once, he was fast asleep almost before his head came to rest on the pillow.

* * *

He woke in the night as the covers moved around him, sitting up quickly he could make out Hermione thrashing slightly her limbs tangling with themselves, leaning forward he moved to brush some of the hair out of her face and felt her damp cheeks. He only debated what to do for a second before holding onto one of her shoulders and gently calling her name until she opened her eyes with a start.

Her breathing was heavy and her chest rose and fell rapidly, he ran one hand through her hair hoping to sooth her, waiting for her to wake up properly.

"Neville" she said finally.

"I'm here" he told her and her body sagged "Come here" he softly instructed and rolled her into his chest, her back pressed against his front, his chin resting on her hair, he banded an arm around her middle and wrapped one leg over hers "nothing is going to get you here Hermione, you're safe now" she whimpered softly and he pulled her tighter "do you want to talk about it?"

"Tomorrow" she breathed out "we'll talk tomorrow"

* * *

Talk they did, he had once thought that waking up wrapped around her for the first time would have been awkward, but their need for reassurance and each other's presence overcame that.

They sat or laid in various positions throughout the morning as they told each other everything that had happened in each other's absence, there were tears, pain and a lot of rage but after…. After there was some peace.

* * *

During the first week after the battle of Hogwarts it was like the entirety of Wizarding Britain was in a state of shock, nothing happened, they were left alone.

In the second week the funerals started and that's when reality started to kick in, they had their momentary reprieve, moments to be thankfully they were alive, that they had both made it through and then they knew they would have to deal with all of the consequences of what had happened, the adjustment period began.

* * *

He had come back from a recovering Diagon Alley three weeks later, ladened down with shopping bags, they had taken a reluctant Hermione the week before to get some clothes and a wand and had been notified that morning that some of the items were ready for collection. Neville had offered to go himself, Hermione still found crowds a little difficult and it gave him the chance to pop into muggle London to get some of the things she would like.

As he walked into his room, their room, Hermione was resting on the small sofa by the window her gaze fixed on an article within The Prophet.

As he dropped the bags on the floor he heard her speak "have you been getting love letters?" she asked so softly he almost didn't hear her.

"Excuse me?" he asked bemused by the strange question.

She held the paper aloft "they're talking about you again _Snake Slayer Neville Longbottom_ , there are some quotes here from _unhappy_ witches and even some wizards as their love letters had gone unanswered"

Neville thought for a moment, he definitely had not received any he wondered if it was his Gran or Tip that was burning them? "I haven't had any Hermione" he said gently, moving to sit next to her and pulling her into his lap.

He felt her tense and saw her chew her bottom lip, she had been a little worked up for a couple of days it was best to let her get it out "Neville I…" she paused and tucked her head against his neck "well… there has been a lot of attention since the war and I just wanted you to know that I… I won't hold you to anything if you feel that..."

"Hermione" he cut her off and moved fingers to trace along her throat until the pendant he gave her was caught between his fingers "when I asked you to wear this I did so because I was serious about you, not because I had no other choice, I did it because I was and _I am_ completely besotted with you"

"What do I care if somebody notices me now that I've achieved something they deem important, it was always your opinion that mattered most to me and you had taken notice long before that"

"I need you to be mine now Hermione, all mine, I think we've waited long enough, put our own happiness on hold for long enough… don't you?"

She raised her face to look at him and held his jaw in her two hands before pulling herself closer and nodding against his forehead "yours"

* * *

 _A/N Thank you to everyone that's reading, reviewing and adding to lists, epilogue still to come._


	32. Chapter 32

_A/N unbelievably we have made it to the last chapter, a big thank you to all of you who have supported this fic, I have really enjoyed writing this one and am so, so grateful to all of you who have given such kind feedback, and added to various lists. I hope you enjoy._

* * *

 **Epilogue**

* * *

3 months after the Battle

Light streamed in from the bedroom window and woke Neville from his pitiful rest. He slowly opened his eyes to adjust to the lighted room and turned to find Hermione. She was resting right next to him, as usual, but facing him, which was not. Normally they slept with her back to his front, spooned around each other as he teased her for how small she was. But not last night, last night she had fallen asleep crying into his chest, his sweater on her body, the sleeves of it curled in her hands being gripped hard by her fingers. He couldn't say anything that would soothe her, so he had just let her get it out.

He untangled his legs from hers and went into the adjoining bathroom to wet a flannel, he caught sight of himself in the mirror and sighed, the travel back from Australia had been rough on both of them. He walked back into the room to find Hermione had stirred a little, having moved across the bed to wriggle into the warm patch he had left behind.

Neville stepped across the carpet slowly in an effort not to wake her completely before sitting on the edge of the bed and with the gentlest of touches, barely even making contact at all, he lifted her face to brush the warmed cloth against her cheeks. She looked a little better once the dried tears had been cleared away.

The visit to find her parents had not gone well. It had taken two months to locate them and they had only managed at all because Hermione had suggested Sydney and new names to them and she knew how to search through registered businesses in that area.

Hermione had been up for a week before they departed, worrying about what could happen, what if the charms didn't reverse? what if it hurt them further?

In the end, all of the worry over failed magic was in vain, the detailed reversals that Hermione had put together worked perfectly. Mr and Mrs Granger were out for the count for an hour, it was when they woke up that there were problems.

They felt violated by her intervention, already wary of the magical world when Hermione told them everything they were scared, scared and appalled. A few hours of tearful explanations ended with her parents asking them to leave.

They stayed in Australia a week after that, visiting every day, sometimes it went well sometimes not but Neville began to feel like they were repeating the same issues over and over again, it was sapping Hermione and she had done enough in the last year.

After he found he could watch her heartache no more he called an end to their stay, they informed Hermione's parents they were going home and they could get in contact there, they had never even properly asked what their relationship was.

So here they were back in a bed with Hermione crying in her sleep. She had stayed with them since the battle at the townhouse, she had made noises about leaving a couple of times but he had waved her off. He liked having her here, even like she was, upset as she had been, she was so alive as a person she brought so much joy to his life.

He nuzzled back down in front of her newly washed face and used the time she was asleep to practice asking her.

* * *

A year after the Battle

Neville carried the last box of his things into what would become his office and leant back on the desk to take a moment to breathe it all in, this wasn't where he had expected he would end up but he was happy.

When the fighting was over Neville had initially wanted to join the auror training programme. He had found during his last year at the school that protecting people had become important to him, he had fought for everyone to live in a world that was safer, happier.

That dream had lasted for a couple of months, he had signed himself up to complete training and had been excited about starting, he would have been joining in the same intake as Ron and Harry and although his relationship with the former had remained a little stilted he was happy to be with friends.

It was only when the manuals had arrived that he had second-guessed his decision. Hermione found him sitting in the back of the greenhouse his mind fixed on the images in front of him, he hadn't turned the page in a while, each new photo taking him back to a time he would rather have forgotten.

She had sat beside him and took the parchment from his fingers, his eyes fell on her as she flicked through a couple of pages "evidence of spell damage" she had read aloud before she resolutely closed the book softly "did you want to talk about it?"

Talk they did, he realised that before that moment he had told her what had happened but he hadn't discussed how he felt. The powerlessness, the fear, the humiliation all of it came pouring out. When he had finished speaking he realised she had tucked herself against him, he considered how silly it had been to hold back those feelings from the girl that understood, that had always understood.

So his direction had changed, Neville pushed off the desk and walked over to the tallest stack of boxes ready to start sorting through everything, turning when he heard a knock at the door. Curly brown hair appeared in the doorway as Hermione shuffled in carrying coffee mugs.

"Drink Professor Longbottom?" she asked as she beamed at him.

He smiled back at her "why yes Professor Granger, do come in"

After he had turned down the training position Hermione had invited the newly appointed Headmistress McGonagall over for tea, upon hearing their lack of plans his old Head of House had almost fallen over herself to offer them both positions on the staff. Professor Sprout had been anxious to lower her workload and Neville had agreed to a slow programme of taking over the Herbology Professor role under her guidance.

With her time now taken up by other duties, Minerva had requested Hermione take over for her in Transfiguration which his girlfriend had readily agreed to after he had nodded at her encouragingly.

Hermione placed the mugs down on the desk and Neville's eyes honed on the glint that came from a finger on her left hand. He had finally worked up the courage to ask her to marry him earlier that month. He had been putting it off, more scared than he had ever been though under increasing pressure from all quarters as well as reassurances of her positive response he had planned a quiet romantic dinner at home.

Though he had bungled his way through the actual asking, at one point knocking over the dining table they were sat at she had still said yes.

Hermione sat next to him on the desk "I'll help you with your office then we do mine?" she asserted.

Neville agreed, eager to get on with the next chapter of his life.

* * *

2 years after the Battle

Neville stood on the grass by the Black Lake trying desperately to control his urge to throw up. Though they had wisely chosen to conduct his stag party a few weeks before he and his friends had decided the night before to have 'a couple' to ease off his nerves. His slight hangover, mixing with the anxiety the alcohol had failed to elevate left him feeling a little peaked.

He and Hermione had decided on getting married on the Hogwarts grounds, it was a place that held a lot of emotional significance to both of them. It was because of the school that they met and all of their budding relationship developed her. He hoped, quietly to himself that having this happiest of memories here would help him to finally eradicate the nightmares that still clung to him from time to time, nightmares of the Carrows, his final year here and the battle. Though he had taught here for a long time it had not yet been enough.

His introspection was cut short as the music started and he shifted uncomfortably in his dress robes until Hermione entered, her hair was pulled back in a loose chignon with wild curls escaping all around her face. He had begged her to leave her hair alone as much as possible, it was so her that he hated it whenever she did too much to control it. Threaded through her pinned back curls were an array of small white flowers.

Her dress was a simple column of pale white silk that glistened in the sun, the watery fabric skimming over her curves and pooling at her feet. She had decided to go barefoot, on advisement from Luna, as it was a sunny day and they were on the grounds she hadn't wanted to wear anything that would sink into the grass underfoot.

As she got closer he felt his heart still at just how perfect she looked. Her makeup was minimal, all she needed was the smile she was currently wearing to brighten her face, he reached for her hand and when he clasped her small fingers he felt the nerves slip away.

The reception was far less taxing than the ceremony had been and everyone present partook in far too much of the free-flowing booze, himself and Hermione included.

His Gran was on cloud nine and could be heard at regular intervals telling whoever would listen "That's my grandson...Brightest witch of her age don't you know"

As he twirled Hermione about the dance floor he remembered the Yule Ball, how he had the best night of his life with her then, how he had realised that year that he wanted to be more than friends. Now they were here, at their wedding, he had married the uppity girl from the train that helped him search for a toad, the girl that had made him a coin to spare his blushes, the girl who became his best friend, the woman who changed his life.

* * *

3 years after the Wedding

Neville sped round the corner of the hospital knocking into a witch mopping the floors as he did so "Sorry, sorry" he offered as he detangled himself from the scowling woman before continuing up the corridor at speed.

Only Hermione could be early, showing off as usual. Every book he had read, and there had been a fair few, Hermione had made a list, had suggested that firstborns normally went beyond the due date. Seemingly not for his wife, no she was three weeks early and he had got her patronus screaming at him to put down the plant pots and get to St Mungo's. She wasn't at the castle herself anymore as she had gone on leave the week before.

He wouldn't let it enter his head that he would miss it, he would never forgive himself.

As he made it to the front desk of the maternity wing of the hospital he managed to wheeze out a barely intelligible version of his name to the nurse stationed there. She gave him a knowing smile and pointed him at the second room on the right, this was unlikely to be her first glimpse at such a sight.

He burst through the door and scanned the room only to find the atmosphere was relatively sedate in comparison to the thumping of his heart. Hermione was sat on top of a large inflatable ball, she had insisted muggles used it and the healer they had met with saw no harm, she was gently bouncing on top of the silver sphere while reading.

"Hermione?" he asked still panting.

"Hi love" she smiled.

"Ah, your patronus… you seemed quite… distressed"

She beamed at him "I called you during one of my contractions, they are pretty sharp and getting closer together now, but in between I still feel fairly alright"

The image of his smiling wife was long lost to him ten hours later as he looked into the face of the screaming banshee she had become, he couldn't seem to do anything, anything he did do was wrong. He settled for holding her hand and mopping her brow, telling her how amazing she was.

All he felt was fear, anxiety and totally like a spare part until everything seemed to get all the more intense and then a cry was heard.

His whole body stilled as the enthusiastic healer turned around "congratulations Mr and Mrs Longbottom, you have a baby girl"

The tiny bundle swaddled in pink blankets was dropped onto Hermione's chest and he looked down at them both, he could see a darkish tuft of hair poking from the top of the blankets and marvelled at her tiny features.

When the baby was pressed into his arms he sat in the chair to give the healers some space and brushed his thumb delicately across her soft pink cheek "Hello Iris… I'm your dad"

* * *

1 year after Iris

Neville walked through the hospital corridors, at a much more sedate pace this time, arms full with Iris wriggling in his grasp. Hermione and his Gran were behind him chatting about something or other, his wife still talked non-stop whenever they got to the hospital, seeking to break through their thoughts and keep them from becoming melancholy. It was one of the many reasons he loved her.

Iris shifted again and reached for her mother, they had initially planned to call her Alice, for his mother, but his Gran had said that was maudlin and overtime he agreed.

He opened the door into the Janus Thickey ward and placed Iris into the playpen area he had brought along with him from home. Before walking over to his Dad taking a seat next to him and pulling out the paper to run him through the latest quidditch scores.

He watched out of the corner of his eye as Hermione took Alice by the hand and led her over to the side of the playpen, in practised movements she sat her down on the floor and eased down next to her. His mother never spoke, never showed much outward sign of comprehension but she never took her eyes of Iris wherever she crawled to and she never ceased her grip on Hermione's hand.

* * *

2 years after Iris

Neville moved through the dark corridors on the townhouse walking towards the central atrium. When himself and Hermione had decided that they would live there instead of finding their own place his Gran had allowed them to make alterations, the centre of the house was now dominated by a light and airy main room, where Hermione had managed to bring the outside in, the white bright space was covered in greens of all kinds, the plants made him feel almost as at home as she did.

As he entered the room a small smile lit up his face as he caught his wife halfway up a ladder, Iris who was now a toddler watching her with some determination as Hermione chatted away to her daughter as if she could understand, as soon as Iris spied him in the doorway she attempted to get herself off the floor to toddle over to him.

Seeing her purpose he strode over to scoop her up in his arms "What's mummy doing Iris?"

Hermione turned at the sound of his voice, looking slightly sheepish "I know I said I would wait for you to do this but I just thought I should get it done"

He walked over to her while she stepped back down "Surely you could have waited?" he chided good naturedly.

"Probably" she agreed before leaning up to kiss him, she made a face as his beard caught the soft skin of her cheeks.

He laughed at her "Don't complain, you were the one who said not to get rid of it, you said you liked it"

"I do, I just always forget about the price I have to pay for looking at it" she teased.

He smiled at her "come on I have something to show her"

Moving slowly so that Iris could walk along beside them he led them to the family wing of the house where he had been working all day. Hermione paused at the doorway of the room and looked up at him tears pooling in her eyes, she got emotional like this, in the late stages of pregnancy, or so she said, he would have said she was always an emotional person but he wasn't quite sure he would get away with that.

He moved to stand behind her, looping his arms around her expanding middle as they both looked into the nursery. A large jungle scene took up one wall and the room was filled with various stuffed animals that Iris was working her way through, holding up various ones to show her parents who would coo at her each time.

"Do you like it?" he whispered into her ear.

She turned to face him "it's perfect Neville, just perfect"

He hoped so, it almost made it seem real now the nursery was done, in a few months his boy would be born, Hermione would say their family was complete but Neville was already working on his speech to get her to consider a third.

Iris called for their attention again holding aloft a stuffed toad that made a broad knowing smile break across both their faces.

"I love you mine… forever"

* * *

 _A/N though this is the final instalment of Flourishing Devotion this may not be the last time I work on this pairing. I have another story on my profile 'The Mixtape' which is a_ _collection of song prompt one-shots featuring new pairings and continuations/ outtakes from existing stories, I have a prompt from this fic on the list._

 _Also I in the next few weeks I will be tackling a Hermione x Viktor Krum fic, the first part of this story is outlined, follow me on the site or on tumblr (Calebski) for more updates._


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